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THE 

UNFRIENDLY ATTITUDE 



OF THE 



UNITED STATES 
GOVERNMENT 



TOWARDS THE 



IMPERIAL 
VALLEY 



April. 1907. 



COPYRIGHT, 1907 
By L. M. holt 



THE 

UNFRIENDLY ATTITUDE 



OF THE 



UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT . 



TOWARDS THE 



IMPERIAL VALLEY 



Speeches, Letters, Newspaper Clippings and Other 

Matter Covering Different Phases of the 

Relations that have Existed 

Since 1901 and 1902 



Compiled for the Imperial Daily Standard 

BY 

L . M . HOLT 



IMPERIAL DAILY STANDARD PRINT 

IMPERIAL, CAL. 

1907 

Copyriplif, J 907. by L. M. Holt 



UtiRAKYo(C0NO«ESs'' 
Iwo CoDics Keceivta 
MAY 2y 190/ 

_^ OoByright Entry 

y/Ul'ij 7.1107 

CUSs/n. XXc, No. ! 

COPY a. i 






TABLE OF CONTENTS 



Page 

Letter from I. W. Gleason, President Imperial Water Co. No. 1, March 12, 1907 4 

A Recent Summary by the Imperial Standard. — February 8, 1907 5 

I^st We Forget — Points worth Remembering in the History of the Imperial Valley 6 

Annual Report of I. W. Gleason, President of Imperial Water Company, No. 1, to Stockholders, 

Januarys, 1907 ._ 8 

The Government's Adverse Soil Report — "Circular No. 9," January 10, 1902 11 

A Later Publication on Same Subject — "The Conclusions of the Soil Report (Field Operations of 

the Bureau of Soils)" — Nearly two years later... . 12 

Letter from Prof. E. W. Hilgard of the University of California to E. F. Howe, now Elditor 
of the Imperial Daily Standard^ Referring to the Soil Report — The Washington Bomb- 
shell— January 22, 1902... '. 12 

A Few Expressions from the Press — 

How the Soil Report Was Made, Imperial Press 13 

Would Not Sprout Barley, Imperial Press 13 

Prof. Whitnej-'s Mistake, Los Angeles Herald 13 

Agriculture Questionable, San Diego Union 13 

Would Strike Terror, I. W. Gleason 13 

Opinions of a County Supervisor, C. H. Swallow 14 

The Sun is Sorry, Colusa Sun 14 

It has no Business to Grow, Phoenix, Arizona, Daily Republican 14 

As Barren as the North Pole, Alameda Encinal 14 

Laugh at Government's Experts, D. G. Whiting in California Cultivator 14 

Ex-Congressman W. W. Bowers on Experts, in San Diego Sun 14 

A Private Enterprise Successfully Conducted, Los Angeles Times, April 19, 1904 14 

Letter from L. M. Holt to President Roosevelt, in Answer to his Message to Congress on Im- 
perial Valley Matters, January 22, 1907 15 

Second Letter of L. M. Holt to the President on Imperial Valley Matters, February 6, 1907 19 

Statements of Various Prominent Bankers Regarding the Effect of the Soil Reports — 

Los Angeles National Bank — By W. C. Patterson, President, January, 19, 1901 22 

First National Bank of Los Angeles, By W. C. Patterson, Vice-President, February 20, 1907 23 

National Bank of California, Los Angeles, By J. E. Fishbum, President, February 13, 1907 23 

First National Bank of Los Angeles, By J. M. Elliott, President, February 14, 1907 24 

Farmers and Merchants National Bank of Los Angeles, By J. A. Graves, Vice-President, 

February 13, 1907.. 25 

National Bank of California, at Los Angeles, By W. D. Woolwine, Vice-President, Feb- 
ruary 15, 1907 25 

Government Obstruction and Government Criticism — Letter of January 15, 1907, from George 
Chaffcy, formerly President of the California Development Company, to President 

Roosevelt, in answer to his message 26 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 

Page 
The Reclamation Service and some of its activities against Imperial, sulisequent to the Soil Re- 
port—Extract from Statement Published by the Late A. H. Heber in August, 1904 29 

Attack by George Y. Wisner, Consulting Engineer of the Reclamation Service, on the Imperial 
Valley and the California Development Company, early in 1904, from Detroit, (Mich. ) 

Journal 30 

Political Engineer Lambasts Imperial. — Department of Fiction of Reclamation Service Still 

Falsifying the Facts. — Imperial Daily Standard, April 4, 1907 - 31 

L. C. Hill, Supervising Engineer of the United States Reclamation Service, Tries to Discredit 

the Imperial Valley — - 32 

The Attempt to get Congressional Legislation Removing Possible Question of Imperial Water 
Rights and the Defeat of the Bill by the Reclamation Service — Statements by: 

Congressman Bell of California 36 

Congress Mondell, of Wyoming, Chairman of Committee on Irrigation of Arid Lands 36 

Congressman Hitchcock of Nebraska . 36 

Congressman Williamson of Oregon -.- .— - 37 

Congre.ssman Vanduzer of Nevada - - - -- 37 

Miscellaneous Statements of the Press — 

The Government Clouds the Title — San Francisco Chronicle, April, 1904 38 

Lippincott Fights the Imperial Settlers, during 1904 38 

More Useful for Irrigation than Navigation — Los Angeles Daily Herald, May, 1904 38 

Hostile to the American Spirit — Wasliington Correspondent of the Los Angeles Times, April 

6, 1904 , - 39 

Interior Department should be Reformed — San Francisco Call 39 

Appeal to the President by the Imperial Chamber of Commerce. — It Takes Action on Attitude 

of Reclamation Service and the Claims of Mexico 40 

President Roosevelt's Message to Congress on Imperial Valley Situation, January 12, 1907 42 



RECOMMENDS PUBLICATION 



March 12, 1907. 
Mr. L. M. Holt, 

Los Angeles, Cal. 
My Dear Sir: 

I have read your manuscript under the heading " The Unfriendly 
Attitude of the United States Government Towards the Imperial Valley" 
and consider it a valuable collection of data, newspaper clippings, and 
speeches, relative to the great injury done to the Imperial Valley by 
officials of our government. 

I think it should be published and given as wide circulation as 
possible. 

Very truly yours. 



President, Imperial Water Co. No. 1. 



A Recent Summary Made by the Imperial Daily 

Standard 



The Imperial h^tandal•d of February 8, 1907, jHibliphes a leading editorial on the relations of the 
Valley settlement with the government, past, present and future, from which we reproduce the fol- 
lowing extracts, which seem to be a fair summary of the points made against the various depart- 
inents of the government in this pamphlet: 



Aside from minor matters, the people here 
know that the various departments of the gov- 
ernment are primarily responsible for the con- 
ditions existing here. 

They know that when the early promoters 
of the irrigation system were proceeding in good 
faith to build an irrigation system the bureau 
of soils made a report, so far as its effect on the 
public was concerned, declaring this valley to 
be worthless. 

They know that this report put an end to col= 
onization and drove out of the irrigation enter- 
prise and out of the farming industry capital 
already invested. 

They know that the reclamation service fol- 
lowed this report with an attack on the finances 
of the California Development Company by 
declaring that it had no right to take water 
from the Colorado river, thus further crippling 
the company and preventing it from proceeding 
with its work. 

They know that although congress five years 
ago ordered a resurvey of this valley and later 
made an emergency appropriation to pay for 
the work, nothing is being done to carry out the 
work, and titles to the land are held up in conse- 
quence. 

They know that but a few months since rep- 
resentatives of the reclamation service were 
inciting trouble between this valley and the 
Mexican Republic. 

In spite of this persistent opposition, which at 
times has almost appeared like conspiracy be- 
tween governmental bureaus to prevent the rec- 
lamation of this former desert, the people of Im- 



perial valley are disposed to forget the past and 
meet the reclamation service half way in a plan 
for general development. 

There are many of these people who fear that 
the reclamation service, if it acquires the rights 
and property of the California Development 
Company, will be in a position to say to the farm- 
ers: 

"Sign the contract as we draw it, or go with= 
out water." 

In effect, the head of the geological survey is 
quoted as saying the same thing, that the rec- 
lamation service would only take hold of this 
system "with a free hand." He is further quoted 
as saying that the work would cost $30 an acre 
or more, and that several years must lapse be- 
fore the service can take up the work. 

Senator Flint says it is not possible for the 
government to confiscate property. This is 
good law, nominally, but it can be made a fic- 
tion. If the reclamation service is put in a 
position where it can name the conditions under 
which the farmers can have water they are em= 
powered to do that which, to all intents, amounts 
to confiscation of property. 

The only possible assurance the farmers of 
this valley would have would be confidence in 
the disposition of the government to be just and 
liberal to its citizens. 

We have a patriotic people here who have 
longed to receive from the government the 
recognition which a government should extend 
to law abiding citizens. They have struggled 
along for five years in the faith that some day 
the government they love would put an end to 



UNFKIENDLV ATTITUDE OF (iOVKRXMKNT TOWARDS IMPEKIAT. 



the persecution they have suffered from branches 
of the government, which persecution is the 
primal cause of the trouble the valley has suffered. 

When the government sent its navy to Jamaica 
to rescue a foreign people on foreign soil, many 
people felt that the government could afford to 
be equally liberal in assisting in saving the homes 
of thousands of its own citizens living on Ameri- 
can soil. Here would be liberality, but the 
assurance comes from Washington that the 
people of Imperial valley cannot expect the same 
generous treatment accorded foreigners. The 
government can only give assistance in saving 
these homes providing the people guarantee 
that the monej' will be refunded. 

Now, the people of Imperial vallej-, as stated 
above, relinquishing any hope of generosity 
from their government, are willing to meet the 
government half way in a policy which is based 
on common justice, but they cannot see the ele- 
ments of justice in an act which says to the 
farmers of the valley: 



"Turn your property over to the governmental 
bureau which has been opposing jou for five 
years and see what the bureau docs with it." 

The Standard has hoped that there might be 
some declaration of policy from the reclamation 
service which would make it possible for the 
farmers to meet them and bring about an ad- 
justment, but the statement reaching the valley 
indirectly that the service demands a free hand, 
that the farmers would have to pay S30 an acre 
or more under the reclamation service project 
and that >ears would elapse before anything 
could be done practically eliminates any possi- 
bility of the farmers and the service getting to- 
gether, and leads the Standard to believe that, 
the government refusing to deal with the valley 
in a spirit of liberality, it is preferable that there 
should be no legislation by congress. 

Simply let the matter rest on the basis that 
the .American government refuses to be as gen= 
erous to a stricken portion of its own citizens 
as it is to an unfortunate foreign people. 



Lest We Forget--- Points Worth Remembering in the 
History of the Imperial Valley 



I. In 1900, owing to popular belief that the 
enterprise of the California Development Com- 
pany was speculative and visionary in charac- 
ter, no financial institution would loan it a dollar 
until the water had reached Imperial. 

II. As soon as the water did reach the Valley. 
in June, 1901, and the practicability of the en- 
terprise had been successfully demonstrated, 
there were some cash payments made to the 
Company by the settlers, and the financial 
men and institutions of Los Angeles looked on 
the undertaking with such increasing favor, that 
the California Development Company was rap= 
idly establishing a sound financial standing. 

III. As early as August, 1901. there was 
much suspicion and distrust in the minds of in- 
vestors and financiers on account of persistent 
rumors that the soil of the Valley was so im- 
pregnated with alkali as to be worthless. 

IV. These rumors and suspicions culminated 
when in January, 1902, officials of the Govern- 
ment gave out sensational interviews condemn- 



ing the Valley and virtually warning investors 
and settlers from the field. 

\. On the appearance of the United States 
Government soil report and interviews given out 
by the Government officials to newspapers, 
the financial credit of the California Develop- 
ment Company was for the time being ab.solutely 
destroyed. 

VI. During the succeeding eighteen months 
the Government soil expert's reports were dem- 
onstrated to be an unjustifiable outrage on the 
Valley, for it was amply proven that less than 
one per cent of the Valley lands under cultivation 
was seriously injured by alkali deposits. As a 
consequence of returning confidence the Cali- 
fornia Development Company was rapidly re- 
covering from the terrible body blow given it 
by the soil report, and was getting in shape to 
install permanent headworks when the next 
blow fell. 

VII. Immediately following the restoration 
of confidence, officials of the Reclamation Serv- 



LKST WE FOROET — POINTS WORTH REMEMBERING 



ice, notably J. B. Lippincott, circulated extens= 
ively a report that the Colorado River was a 
navigable stream and therefore the settlers of 
the Imperial Valley had no right to use of it for 
irrigation. This statement, put forth with the 
stamp of government authority, again destroyed 
the credit of tlie Cahfornia Development Com- 
pany, making it impossible for that Company 
to raise money to protect the Valley from sum- 
mer floods. 

VIII. The insincerity and, one might almost 
.say, the vindictiveness of this attack is shown 
by the fact that prior to that time government 
officials had filed on all the flood waters of the 
Colorado ri\er in order to till four large reservoirs 
whose dams were to extend across the river, 
thus absolutely destroying its navigability; and 
since that time they have spent some ■12,000,000 
on their own Colorado irrigation system at the 
Laguna Dam. 

IX. Congress was asked, in 1904, to confirm 
the water rights of the Company and settlers 
by declaring that the waters of the Colorado 
River were more valuable for irrigation than 
for navigation purposes, but the Reclamation 
Service opposed that move and the legislation 
asked was denied. 

X. Reduced to extremities, the California 
Development Company then applied to the 
Mexican (Jovernment for the right to take water 
from the Colorado River in Mexican territory 



for use in the United States, so that it could 
make good its contracts with the Imperial set- 
tlers, and was granted a valuable concession by 
President Diaz, which was ratified by the Mexi= 
can Congress. 

XI. The Company by this time had become 
so badly crippled financially by the attacks of 
the Reclamation Service that it could not put 
in proper protective headworks under the Mexi- 
can concession, and the runaway Colorado River 
and Salton Sea resulted. 

XII. The mistakes made by the Reclamation 
Service, under Supervising Engineer Lippincott, 

in estimating the cost of the Laguna dam (the 
estimates being less than one-half of the actual 
cost so far as at present ascertained ) have brought 
that proposed system into disrepute and the 
owners of land thereunder fear that they may 
be bankrupted by the excessive cost per acre of 
the system — the limit of which no one as yet 
knows. 

Lastly. The settlers in the Imperial Valley 
have been pioneers in good faith. They have 
taken worthless government land and made it 
valuable and in so doing have paid much money 
to the Government of the United States. They 
are entitled to immunity at its hands from mis- 
guided paternalism, from blunders of inexperi= 
enced experts, and from the chicanery of incom= 
petent government engineers. 



Annual Report of I. W. Gleason, President of Imperial 

Water Company No. 1, Read at Meeting of 

Stockholders Held at Imperial, 

Tuesday, January 8, 1907 



Imperial Water Company No. 1 embraces about one-half of the land now under cultivation in 
the Imperial Valley, and the President of this Company represents the sentiment of the settlers of 
the Valley probably to a greater extent than any other one man. 



The following is his report in full: 

Another agitation is now being stirred up by 
those who favor the reclamation department 
in the Imperial Valley. 

It seems incredible to me that these men 
have not learned anything by past experience. 

It was pointed out to them three years ago 
that to knock down and out the California De- 
velopment Company without knowing that the 
reclamation department would immediately take 
possession of our supply system and operate it, 
might bring disaster to our interests, that we 
might be jumping out of the frying pan into the 
fire, and that every dollar knocked out of the 
California Development Company might result 
in knocking two out of the people of the valley. 

But to cry down the California Development 
Company as a public enemy was very popular 
with some people at that time, and to cry down 
the capitalistic and non-resident class of our 
stockholders may be equally popular at this 
time, since it is thought by these men that they 
will be the main sufferers from the terms of the 
reclamation law. 

But let us carefully consider this question and 
see if the disaster to this community would not 
be universal to all interests, and not confined 
to any special class of our stockholders. 

We oelieve that the reclamation law is a be- 
nefi'^pht law in the field where it was intended to 
operate, and for the purposes for which it was 
designed, that is, to make homes for the home- 



less on the remaining parts of the government 
domain that require irrigation. 

But when this law is misapplied to a settled 
country it immediately comes in conflict with 
established and existing rights, and as now in- 
terpreted by those in charge, tends to destroy 
such rights and drive from the country all such 
men as would not settle there under the recla- 
mation rules, and brings the community back 
in large degree to its former desert condition. 

This might be favored by those in the com- 
munity who had not acquired rights, but who 
hoped to get from those who had their property, 
at small cost. There might be some legal diffi- 
culties in the way of this wholesale confiscation 
of rights and property if these people who are 
to be the losers should refuse to sign away their 
rights, but even if it can be done there is still 
room for doubt whether or not the future and 
present prosperity of the community would be 
advanced thereby. 

The writer has seen two new countries settled 
up under the homestead law, western Iowa and 
Dakota. The first settlers were those who had 
little means and undertook to secure a home on 
Uncle Sam's free domain. A large per cent of 
these first settlers made a failure and sold out at 
a small price and went back to "God's country" 
to l>ecome renters, or went further west. Little 
permanent prosperity came into the country 
until the arrival of that class who would not go 
into an entirely new country, but came later 



ANNUAL REPORT OF I. W. GLEASON 



with money, and, what is still more important, 
the energy and intellectual ability that gave 
them the money they brought. 

The wonderful advancement we have seen in 
the Imperial Valley in spite of the opposition of 
government alkali reports, reclamation depart= 
ment officials, Colorado river rampages, inter= 
national complications, and the meddling of 
agitators, has been due to the fact that this valley 
has been settled largely by men of this second 
class instead of the homesteader class who will 
settle under the reclamation projects. 

The reclamation law applied to this valley 
will drive a large portion of these men out of 
the country, and I make the statement unquali- 
fiedly that these men can get along without 
Imperial Valley far better than Imperial Valley 
can get along without them. 

The statement is continually made that each 
of their places will be taken immediately by 
some half dozen families, but if all these resident 
families are waiting for a chance to come in what 
is keeping them away now? There is surely 
plenty of opportunity. 

The fact is these resident families are not to 
be found. There is no doubt that they have 
been kept away by the difficulties we have got 
into, due not to the capitalist and non-resident 
class, but due largely to the knocking of the 
Reclamation officials and this same agitator 
class who have done their utmost to bring ruin 
upon the only existing means of securing water 
for this valley, and the resulting disaster upon all 
interests, now wish to drive out a large portion 
of the remaining financial ability, brain and 
energy of the community. 

This is viewing only the materialistic side of 
the question, but from a moral standpoint, 
their action is even more reprehensible. 

What right has any government official or 
any other man to demand of these people who 
have legitimately and righteoulsy acquired rights 
under the desert land law that they abandon 
such rights? 

If the desert land law is not a good thing, 
let Congress repeal it, but while it remains the 
law of the land it is nothing short of robbery to 
attempt to deprive American citizens of rights 
obtained thereunder. 

Such unhol}' action could never bring pros- 
perity to Imperial Valley or any other country. 

I have in my possession a letter from a citizen 
of the Yuma valley, from which the following 
is a quotation: 



"I warn you and the people of Imperial, before having 
any business with the Reclamation Department, have 
everything in writing and signed by the Secretary of the 
Interior, as they have a faculty of brushing everything 
aside that don't suit them later on. 

"They are adepts at promising, assuring sympathy, 
and promising the resources of the government to relieve 
your di.stressed condition, until they get you bound body 
and .soul to their department. Then their process of 
setting aside tegins; and if they treat you people in the 
same way they have the farmers of this valley, you had 
as well move out at once. 

''Look to your own interests and take nothing for 
granted." 

I have also in my possession a copy of a pe- 
tition signed by 307 citizens of that valley, en- 
dorsed by the Chamber of Commerce and the 
Consolidated Water Users Association, an or- 
ganization brought into existence since they 
signed up with the Reclamation Department, 
to try to get water to their lands and keep them 
from being driven out. 

This petition beseeches the Secretary of the 
Interior to keep the promises made to them 
by the Reclamation officials and after waiting 
from March 19 to December 19, 1906, without 
getting any satisfaction they have gone back to 
them and denounced the Reclamation Engineers, 
the Secretary of the Interior and the Director of 
the Geological Survey in no uncertain language. 

These people are just waking up to what they 
are up against and the fight is now on in good 
earnest behind the scenes, but they are making 
desperate efforts to keep everything placid on the 
surface. 

If you had a clear deed to 1,000 acres in Yuma 
Valley today you could not hire a dollar because 
it is mortgaged for all it is worth to the govern- 
ment. These people have also deeded all their 
holdings in excess of 160 acres to the Reclama- 
tion Department and gave them the right to 
sell it at public auction as soon as the government 
water gets there. 

They have been nursing the fond hope that 
they could sell it before that time at a good 
price just as the Reclamation officials told us 
we could do, but land that formerly sold at $15 
an acre now has no takers at any old price. 

Many are now holding for dear life to a 160 
acres without means to develop it, expecting 
to sell 40, 80 or 120 for money to develop the 
remainder, but they are now coming to an un- 
derstanding that the Reclamation law and their 
heavy burden now operates to keep out the men 
who have the means to buy, and they stand 
little show of realizing anything from any of 
these lands. They also understand that the 
cost of $5 or .S6, for payments to the government 
and operating expenses annually comes upon 



10 



UNFRIENDLY ATTITUDE OF GOVERNMKNT TOWARDS IMPERIAL 



every acre of land they liave got whether it is 
improved or not and so very few can stand up 
under an acre more than is improved and ready 
to produce remunerative crops, all the rest have 
to go back to the Government or crush the 
owners financiallj-. 

Now, I ask, do we in Imperial Valley want a 
dose of that kind? It may possibly be that 
the S. P. Co. or international complications will 
throw us under this department without our 
wishes being consulted, and against our will, 
but we are not subject to any condemnation 
among American people of honor for standing 
up for our rights, and if we show a disposition to 
do no in a straightforward and legitimate manner, 



show that we know what is right and propose 
to fight for it, we may be saved from the necessity 
of writing such letters to the Secretary of the 
Interior as the one from which I have quoted, 
and be in position to have something to say 
about the terms and conditions imposed upon 
our country. 

Whereas, to bow down to any man because 
he holds a government commission is un=Ameri= 
can and merits only the contempt of these same 
men, antl if in the end we cannot get justice out 
of this deitartnient we certainly can get justice 
from Congress, President Roosevelt, or the Su= 
preme Court of the United States." 



The Government's Adverse Soil Report 



In October, 1901, the Agricultural Department of the Government sent a soil expert — J. 
Garnett Holmes — to the Imperial Valley to examine and report upon the alkaline conditions of the 
soils of that Valley. A little later he was joined in this work by Thomas H. Means. These gentle- 
men made a hasty examination of the soils and reported to their Department — Milton Whitney, 
Chief of the Bureau of Soils — who issued the report dated January 10, 1902, under the title of 
"Circular No. 9." In the body of the report are found the following extracts: 



IMPERIAL SAND 

"The Imperial sand is found in only small 
areas and is composed of the same material as 
the sand dunes, the only difference being that 
the surface is level enough to permit of leveling 
for irrigation." 

"This soil will very likely always be well 
drained and practically free from alkali salts, 
but if the sub-surface water should rise to within 
6 or 8 feet of the surface by reason of excessive 
irrigation great danger should be feared of the 
accumulation of alkali. The cultivation of the 
sand is safe at present, but the movements of 
water and alkali salts in it are rapid, and should 
a sub-surface accumulation of water be permitted 
the alkali would speedily rise to the surface and 
injure the soil. Eighty-two per cent, of the 
soil has less than 0.2 per cent, alkali, and IS per 
cent from 0.2 to 0.4 per cent, alkali." * * * 

IMPERIAL SANDY LOAM 

"This soil is found scattered pretty generally 
throughout the area mapped, there being in all 
37 square miles, or 24,000 acres." * * * * 

"This soil will take water readily, and where 
level and free from alkali is adapted to cultivated 
crops of alfalfa. Some of the best and some of 
the worst lands of the Valley are composed of 
this type." *********** 

IMPERIAL LOAM 

"The Imperial loam was found to comprise 
a part of each township mapped. The surface 
is smooth and level as a floor, almost devoid of 
vegetation. It has the peculiar, slick, shiny 
appearance often seen in localities where water 
has recently stood. It is the direct sediment 
of the Colorado River which has been deposited 
in strata when the area was under water." * * 

"When free from alkali it is well adapted to 
the growth of wheat, barley and alfalfa. This 



soil is in the main alkaline and in some places 
to such a degree as to preclude all possibility of 
profitable agriculture. Of the 30,000 acres 
mapped IGi per cent, has le.ss than 0.2 per cent, 
alkali; 2U per cent, has from 0.2 to 0.4 per cent., 
while 02 per cent has more than 0.4 per cent, 
alkali " ************ 

IMPERIAL CLAY 

"The Imperial clay as soil or subsoil is found 
throughout the entire area. It is usually com- 
paratively level, although in some places small 
hummocks have been l)lown upon its surface." 

^:t:j|:***:|: :(:******* 

"Aside from the difficulties in the jihysical 
properties of the soil, the greater part of it con= 
tains too much alkali to warrant its continued 
cultivation. Two or three cro]w may be taken 
off the land, but the rise of the alkali is almost 
inevitable, and the cultivation of soils containing 
more than 0.4 per cent, alkali is not recom= 
mended." ************ 

"Of the total area level enough to permit 
profitable cultivation, 17 per cent, contains less 
than 0.2 per cent, of alkali and 32 per cent, 
contains from 0.2 per cent to 0.4 per cent. The 
remainder of the land, or .51 per cent, contains 
too much alkali to be safe except- for resistant 
crops." ************ 

"One hundred and twenty-five thousand acres 
of this land have already been taken up by pros- 
pective settlers, many of whom talk of planting 
crops which it will be absolutely impossible to 
grow. They must early find that it is useless 
to attempt their growth." ******* 

"No doubt the best thing to do is to raise crops 
like the sugar beet, sorghum, and the date palm 
(if the climate will permit), that are suited to 
such alkaline conditions, and abandon as worth= 
less that which contains too much alkali to grow 
those crops." *********** 



A Later Government Report 



Circular No. 9 was given to the public in liberal 
quantities while interviews were given out to 
newspapers and the associated press by Wash- 
ington officials, and the effect on the work of 
reclaiming the Imperial Valley was very serious. 

Nearly two years after the publication of the 
original report in pamphlet form, the Govern- 
ment after having time to hear from the criti- 
cisms of the first report published "The Con- 
clusions of the Soil Report (Field operations of 
the Bureau of Soils)" which was mild in tone and 
statements as compared with Circular No. 9. 
But the harm had been done and the modifica- 
tions were scarcely noticed by the public. Fol- 
lowing extract is taken from this remodeled 
report : 



"The soil is wonderfully fertile and irrigated with the 
sediment-laden waters of the Colorado must remain so. 
The ultimate total reclamation and profitable cultivation 
of the desert will surely take place. The greatest quest- 
tion at present is one of expediency, namely. How can 
the reclamation take place and yet protect the present 
owners from loss. It is believed that this can best be 
done by cultivating at present only the lands that will 
prodiice profitable yields of the crops now being grown, 
and by leaving the badly alkaline lands to be reclaimed 
when a new system of agriculture has raised the price 
of land to a point where it will justify the expenditure, 
and when the need for reclamation has been recognized 
by everj'one interested in the country, so as to secure a 
complete co-operation of all concerned." 



THE WASHINGTON BOMBSHELL 

Shortly after the publication of Circular No. 9 
Prof. E. W. Hilgard, soil expert of the Agricul- 
tural Department of the University of California, 
wrote to E. F. Howe, now editor of the Imperial 
Daily Standard, under date of January 22, 1902 
in part, as follows: 

"I have refrained from any publication until 
now for the very reason that I do not wish to 
throw cold water upon the enterprise; but since 
the bombshell from Washington exploded, I 
thought it best that the facts, both good and 
bad, should be published as quickly as possible. 
I have requested Mr. Rockwood and Mr. Hess, 
the Oakland agent, to send all the data of suc- 
cess in actual cultivation as far as possible, and 
well authenticated. I think it is desirable to 
hurry up the publication as much as possible, in 
order to prevent additional wild generalizations 
coming from Washington." 

In this same letter Prof. Hilgard also says: 
"Probably there are few soils In the State which 
are intrinsically more fertile, when freed from 
their salts. Analysis combined with experience 
shows this beyond possible question. Mr. Thomas 
Means to the contrary notwithstanding." 



A Few Expressions from the Press 



As the contents of that soil report became pubhc, the newspapers throughout the Coast gave 
the same to the public in a more or less sensational way. Most of which articles were preserved in a 
scrap book by the Company, but as that scrap book is not now accessible, we can give only a few 
of the milder ones reproduced by Imperial newspapers, which strove to make the best of the report and 
at the same time apologize for the government's so-called experts. The tone of the press at that 
time was one of caution to investors and settlers and sympathy for those who had been caught in 
the alkali trap. 



HOW THE SOIL REPORT WAS MADE 

Following is a statement as published in the 
Imperial Press of February 8, 1902, of how the 
soil report was made by J. Garnett Holmes and 
Thomas H. Means: 

"On October 17 last J. Garnett Holmes arrived in Im- 
perial to make a survey of the lands of the Valley, begin- 
ning actual work in the field a week later. He continued 
at work six days a week until December, a considerable 
portion of his later work being in compiling his notes 
and not in field work. On December 13 he was joined 
by Thomas H. Mean.s, who revised the work, remaining 
here only one week, the two leaving the Valley on Decem- 
ber 20. About forty days of actual field work was done 
in the Valley, covering, according to the report, 169 square 
miles. This implies that for each day in the field Mr. 
Holmes was forced to report on over 2,700 acres, and the 
average distance traveled each day with horse and buggy 
was about fifteen to twenty miles." 



WOULD NOT SPROUT BARLEY, 
IT DID 



BUT 



The Imperial Press of February 8, 1902, says: 

"While Mr. Holmes, one of these experts, was at work 
in Imperial, he told Mr. W. F. Holt that on one comer 
of his half section of land adjoining the town of Imperial 
on the south, the quantity of alkali and salt in the soil 
was so great that nothing could lie made to grow therein, 
and it was doubtful if the seed planted there would even 
germinate. Mr. Holt sowed that half section to barley 
and the entire acreage is as good a field of barley today 
as we could wish to look upon, and the barley on that 
particularly alkali comer is as fine as any on the tract. 

"Here is an error of judgment for which there is no 
excuse. The expert ought to know whether barley would 
grow in that soil or not and if he does not know it he 
ought to resign his position and go to sawing wood. 

"Mr. Holt is a reliable man. He is the president of the 
First National Bank of Imperial and no man can call in 
question his statement." 

PROF. WHITNEY'S MISTAKE 

The Los Angeles Herald of about the same date 
is quoted by the Imperial Press as saying: 



"Professor Milton Whitney's expert opinion on the soil 
at Imperial, in the Colorado River Valley, has been widely 
discussed by experienced agriculturists and land owners. 
His position as chief of the bureau of soils of the Govern- 
ment Agricultural Department gives some weight to any 
statements he may make. But the opinion here is that 
the Washington official erred in making his report, in 
that he had not obtained sufficient evidence upon which 
to base the statement declaring as worthless more than 
one-half of the lands about Imperial." 

AGRICULTURE QUESTIONABLE 

Following is from the San Diego Daily Union: 
"The recently published report of the chief of the bureau 
of soils of the agricultural department contains the result 
of a survey of the soil in the eastern part of the county 
in and about Imperial, as made by Thomas H. Means 
and J. Garnett Holmes. The survey extended from 
Calexico northward twenty-two miles, and the conclu- 
sion reached is that alkali exists in such quantities that 
"agriculture is a questionable proposition," and "one re- 
quiring much caution on the part of investors." 

WOULD STRIKE TERROR 

I. W. Gleason, for several years past president 
of Imperial Water Company No. 1, representing 
a large portion of the Imperial Valley, said: 

"What has the appearance of an authentic report upon 
the soil about Imperial, by the I'nited States Department 
of Agriculture, is going the rovmds of the newspapers. 

"It would seem to the uninitiated that such statements 
from such high authority would strike terror to the hearts 
of those who had invested their money in this country. 

"This would undoubtedly be the case if we had not 
seen crops of any kinds growing with wonderful luxuri- 
ance on the lands and so are more inclined to put confi- 
dence in Mother Nature than in any chemist of no matter 
how high standing." 

This soil report, of course, did not have the 
effect on the settlers in the Imperial Valley who 
were watching the vigorous growth of the crops 
that it had on the outside people who had never 
seen the Valley, and the newspaper writers who 



14 



UNFRIENDLY ATTITUDE OF GOVERNMENT TOWARDS IMPERIAL 



thought they saw a chance to protect settlers 
from what they seemed to think was a visionary 
land scheme in view of the government's attitude 
towards the enterprise. 

OPINION OF A COUNTY SUPERVISOR 

C. H. Swallow, one of the Supervisors of San 

Diego County, having made several trips across 

the Imperial Valley, says through the San Diego 

Union: 

"I think the Government is doing this section an in- 
justice in sending out the report." 

THE SUN IS SORRY 

The Colusa Sun, edited then by the late Hon. 
Will S. Green, at one time U. S. Surveyor Gen- 
eral of California, says editorially: 

"Governnieiit ('X[)erts Viave reported against the lands 
around the growing town of Imperial, on the Colorado 
Desert, and the Sun is sorry. It is said in the report that 
there is too much alkali for any ordinary crop. * * * 

"This report would seem to knock out all idea of reclaim- 
ing any great portion of the Colorado Desert. Along the 
Colorado river l)elo\v Yuma they say the land is good." 

IT HAS NO BUSINESS TO GROW 

The Phoenix (Arizona) Daily Republican, in 
discussing the Imperial soil report, says: 

"Their findings have been published by the Depart- 
ment and they are anything but pleasing to the promoters 
of the Imperial Land Company and the kindred organiza- 
tions interested in that section. The Southern California 
papers ha\-e taken up the subject and are making some 
severe comments on the findings of the experts. * * 

"Having discovered the alkali percentages in the soil 
they proceed to set forth their theory why adverse conditions 
will grow constantly worse instead of better, a theory that 
is utterly refuted so far as a demonstration of the contrary 
can be made in the present early stage of experiment. 

* + ** **** ** * ******* 

"(Contrary to the prediction of the soil ex|Terts who 
looked over the Imperial country, it is now said that a 
fine field of barley is growing where, according to their 
scientific report, it has no business to grow and it is alto- 
gether likely that by the time that region is properly re- 
claimed and judgment used in its development, it will 
prove all that the Imperial promoters claim for it." 

AS BARREN AS THE NORTH POLE 

The Alameda Encinal, edited by George F. 
Weeks, an old-time resident of Southern Cali- 
fornia, and an experienced newspaper writer, 
says: 

"The Imperial Press, in a rude, ribald, sarcastic manner, 
pokes fun at the alleged Government experts who have 
been "investigating" and condeiiuiing the lands of the 
Colorado desert. There was one particular location which 
these expcTts declared solemnly and positively would 
grow nothing — it would Ije useless to plant anything upon 
it. Yet someone without the fear of the e.xpert before 
his eyes plowed that land, planted it with barley and now 
comes the Press with a handsome photograph showing 
a heavy growth of grain thereon knee high on the 15th 
of February on the identical soil that the experts condemned 
as being as barren as the north pole. I?eyond the cold 



statement of facts the Press makes no comment. But 
it is awfully cruel of that paper to do such things." 

LAUGH AT GOVERNMENT EXPERTS 

D. G. Whiting, a successful farmer, writes to 
the California Cultivator, published in Los An- 
geles — a paper that is a recognized authority 
in agricultural matters in this section of the State, 
as follows: 

"I have great faith in the Imperial country. The farm- 
ers there laugh at the dire predictions of the government 
e.xpert as to the prevalence of alkali in quantities that will 
prevent the growing of farm crops. The finest crops 
are growing now near the town of Imperial. This por- 
tion of the tract was marked on the Government map as 
the most unlikely portion of the territorj'. 

EX-CONGRESSMAN BOWERS ON EXPERTS 

The San Diego Sun publishes a letter from 
Ex-Congressman Bowers, from which we extract 
the following: 

"As I looked upon the great luxuriant fields 
that challenge all California to equal, I was 
reminded of the government agricultural experts 
(God save the mark, experts?) who, after priv- 
ate individuals had risked their all and demon- 
strated to the government and an equally great 
and uninformed people that the "desert could be 
made to blossom as the rose" — these experts 
(?) reported that their tests of the soil .showed 
that it was "so heavily impregnated with 
alkali as to unfit the most part of it for growing 
crops." In all my ride I did not see any alkali 
land, nor one foot that would not grow crops if 
watered and planted. Indeed I have not seen 
any fertile section of land in California so en- 
tirely free from alkali. So much for government 
experts." 

A PRIVATE ENTERPRISi: SUCCESSFULLY 
CONDUCTED 

The Los Angeles Times of April 9, 1904, says: 
"Another question of immediate though local 
interest is as to the attitude of our government 
engineers towards the Imperial canal project — 
a private enterprise which is being successfully 
conducted by the California Development Com- 
pany under the direction of President A. H. 
Heber. That Company, beginiiinir in a small 
way only a few years ago, ami with only modest 
means, has built up one of the most notable 
de.sert-land irrigation enterprises in the world, 
and it is already achieving such remarkable re= 
suits, in the way of settlement, cultivation and 
production, as to make it famous wherever 
knowledge of the project lias been spread." 



Letter from L. M. Holt, Late Manager of the Advertising Department 

of the Imperial Land Company, to the President 

in Answer to His Message 



H#n. Theodore Roosevelt, 
The President, 

Washington, D. C. 
Sir:— 

As one of the owners of a cultivated ranch 
in the Imperial valley, and a stockholder in the 
California Development company, and the man- 
ager of the advertising department of the Im- 
perial Land company for about six years, I de- 
sire to call your attention to certain errors which 
crept into your message sent to congress Satur- 
day, Jan. 12, on the subject of the Colorado 
River and the Imperial valley. 

I appreciate the fact that you must of necessity 
rely on information received from various govern- 
mental officials and emploj'es, in order to arrive 
at conlcusions on any given subject, and I regret 
that the information received on this subject 
should have led you into doing a great injustice 
to a large number of people and to great financial 
and business interests. 

The question of utilizing the waters of the Colo- 
rado river for the reclamation of the Colorado 
desert had been discussed for many years prior to 
1900, but no one was found with the ability and 
disposition to finance the enterprise until that 
year, when the California Development Company 
undertook the work, under the business manage- 
ment of George Chaffey. 

That company filed on 500,000 inches of water 
— 10,000 second feet — from the Colorado river, 
on American soil, near the international boundary 
line, and proceeded to construct a conduit to con- 
vey the waters to the Colorado desert — now- 
known as the Imperial valley — through Mexican 
territory, having purchased 100,000 acres of 
land in Lower California in order to obtain a 
right of way for such conduit. 



Settlers at once began to come in and take up 
the desert land under the desert land act, and also 
under the homestead act, purchasing stock in the 
mutual water companies in order to get the right 
to use the water delivered to such companies by 
the California Development company. 

In order to file on land under the desert act it 
was necessary for the settler to state the source of 
water supply in his application to the land office, 
and also give his source of title to the use of such 
water. The blank applications used by them 
stated that the water came from the Colorado 
river through the canals of the California De- 
velopment Company. That source of supply and 
title was approved by the Interior Department 
and under that source of supply and title the 
government issued patents to sundry tracts of 
land. 

The first obstacle placed in the way of the Cali= 
fornia Development company was a soil report 
made by representatives of the Agricultural De= 
partment, which declared the soils of the Imperial 
valley to be so impregnated with alkali that most 
of them were of little or no value for agricultural 
purposes, and that the alkali would probably work 
to the surface as the land was irrigated and be= 
come worse instead of better. Experience proves 
that those experts were mistaken in their diagno- 
sis of the soil, for less than one-half of one per 
cent, of the lands brought under cultivation failed 
to produce satisfactory crops, and the alkali de- 
creased from year to year, instead of increasing. 

The statements made in your message go to 
show that there was no foundation in fact for 
the alkali report made by the government, for 
you say : 

"A most conservative estimate, after full develop- 
ment, must place tlie gross product from this land at not 



16 



UNFRIENDLY ATTITUDE OF GOVERNMENT TOWARDS IMPERIAL 



less than $100 an acre per annum, every ten acres of 
which will support a family when under intense cultiva- 
tion." * * * "The entire irrigable area * * * is capable 
of adding to the permanent population * * * at least 
350,000 people, and probably 500,000. Much of the land 
will be worth from $500 to $1,500 an acre to individual 
owners, or a total of from $350,000,000 to $700,000,000." 

It was the California Development company, 
under the direction as manager of a gentleman 
who had had extensive experience in large and 
successful irrigation enterprises both in Southern 
California and Australia, that demonstrated the 
fact that vast wealth could be created out of such 
apparently worthless material. That entire desert 
was not considered worth a cent a section until this 
company put water thereon and the people in 
large numbers settled on those lands and began 
to raise crops and families and create wealth. 

That soil report was the first hard blow given 
the valley, and that blow was struck by the govern- 
ment. The settlers, however, were not easily 
scared, and they went to work to lay the founda- 
tion for the position taken by you in your message 
regarding the value of the valley lands for agri- 
cultural and horticultural purposes as heretofore 
quoted. 

And in this connection I desire to refer to 
your criticism of the manner in which settlers 
were induced to enter the Imperial valley and take 
up government land for settlement. You say: 

"The claims were not only extravagant, but in many 
cases it appears that willful misrepresentation was made. ' 

I had charge of the advertising policy of the 
Imperial Land company from its incorporation, 
in 1900, to 1906, which company did the adver- 
tising, and I prepared most of the literature that 
was sent out regarding the desirability of the 
Imperial valley for agricultural and horticultural 
purposes, and I challenge anyone to point out 
a single instance in which extravagant claims were 
made or misrepresentation resorted to. 

The most extravagant statements made were 
those in connection with the cultivation of the 
date palm, and the figures given on that subject 
were put forth under the authority of a govern- 
ment expert engaged in introducing choice 
varieties of palms into the United States 
from Africa, and in all our literature we never 
published claims of profits and land values that 
even approached the figures given by you in your 
message. We believed the value of the land would 
reach $100 an acre, and so stated. 

So much for the productions of the valley. 
As regards the fertility of the soil, our state- 
ments in that regard never have been called in 
question, and as to the water supply it would 



have been all we claimed for it had not our plans 
been interfered with by government officials and 
employes. 

And this brings us to the most important 
question connected with the subject — the inter- 
ference of the reclamation service with the plans 
of the California Development Company. 

One of the first moves made by that service 
after its organization in 1902 was an examination 
of the Colorado river, and the lands that could be 
reclaimed by means of water from that stream. 
It found that the California Development Com- 
pany had filed on 500,000 inches of the water 
(10,000 second feet) and that the only way left 
for the building of another irrigation system on 
that river was by means of storage reservoirs for 
impounding the flood waters which came down 
from the melting snows every summer. Arthur 
P. Davis, hydrographer of the United States 
geological survey and formerly engineer of the 
Isthmian canal commission, was in charge of 
this work. He made a report to his superiors in 
which he stated what could be done on that 
stream, and this report through mismanagement 
or mistake, reached the public. The Imperial 
Land company obtained a copy of the report and 
I had it issued in pamphlet form under the title 
of "The Nile of America," giving Mr. Davis due 
credit as the author of the report. The govern- 
ment requested the company to suppress the 
publication and call in the copies that had been 
sent out, but this the company declined to do 
because the pamphlet had been already so widely 
distributed that it was not practicable to suppress 
it, but we agreed not to issue another edition, 
as had been intended. 

This report stated the program to be the con- 
struction of four large reservoirs on the river hav- 
ing a total storage capacity of 1,000,000 acre- 
feet of water. It was claimed that the flood 
waters of the stream would fill these reservoirs 
annually. Preliminary to this great work the 
government filed on 40,000,000 inches of the flow 
of the river, subject to filings theretofore made, 
the principal one of which was the filing made 
by the California Development Company for 
500,000 inches, or 10,000 second feet. 

Mr. Davis in his report gi\es three of the chief 
obstacles to the utilization of the waters of this 
basin, but neither one of them refers to the claim 
that the Colorado river was a navigable .stream, 
and therefore could not be diverted and used for 
irrigation purposes. In fact, if the stream had been 
navigable he proposed absolutely to destroy the 



LETTER FROM L. M. HOLT TO PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT 



17 



navigability by erecting across the stream four 
dams, one of which was to be 300 feet in height- 

On this point of navigability, however, the re- 
port says : 

"The river is navigated more or less from the mouth 
to the Needles by flat bottom, stern wheel boats, which 
sometimes even ascend to the mouth of the Virgin river. 
Its navigation, however, is so difficult and precarious as 
to make it almost useless. At low water the channel is so 
broad, shallow and changeable that boats are continually 
running aground — sometimes being nearly a week in ad- 
vancing ten or fifteen miles. In times of high water, the 
swift current greatly impairs navigation. Whenever 
wagon transportation is possible this is preferred to the 
river." 

Up to this time there was no attempt made by 
the Reclamation service to interfere with the rights 
of the Imperial canal system and our people con- 
sidered the work of the Government on the Colo- 
rado river as a help to their system rather than 
as a hindrance. 

But a change came over the situation by the 
development of facts which stood in the way 
of theories. The great irrigation edifice builded 
by Mr. Davis took a tumble. There was one un- 
surmountable obstacle to the carrying out of his 
magnificent $22,000,000 plan. That obstacle was 
found in the fact that there was no available bed- 
rock on which to build the four dams which were 
to cost $15,000,000, and those dams could not 
be built without such foundation. The plans out- 
lined by Mr. Davis had to be abandoned and 
another change of base became necessary. 

It was now conceded that but little could be 
done by the reclamation service on the Colorado 
river unless the California Development company 
could be forced out of business. The only way to 
accomplish that end was by attacking the com- 
pany's credit, which had been restored again 
from the damage done by the soil report; and 
the only way to injure that credit was by attacking 
its right to the use of the waters of the Colorado 
river. If that right could be successfully over- 
thrown, the company could not borrow a dollar 
and its enterprise must of necessity be abandoned. 
This movement was a despicable one, but it had 
to be done and the work was undertaken. 

Reclamation officials then circulated the report 
very industriously that the Colorado river, being 
a navigable stream, the California Development 
Company could not make a legal filing on its 
waters; therefore the settlers in the Imperial valley 
had no water rights and the only thing for them 
to do was to cast their lots with the reclamation 
service and assist in placing the Imperial valley 
under the reclamation service program. So strong 
was this pressure made that the California De= 
velopment Company finally agreed to sell out its 



plant to the Government, but the offer was not 
accepted because of the complications with the 
Mexican government, although the settlers were 
practically unanimous in their desire at that 
time to secure the assistance of the Government 
on the terms offered by the California Develop- 
ment Company. 

Considering all the circumstances of the case, 
in connection with the attack made upon the 
credit of the California Development Company, 
which ruined the credit of that company and 
made it powerless to build suitable headworks, it 
is not extravagant to state that the Government 
is responsible for the runaway Colorado river and 
the Salton Sea. 

The financial assistance needed by the company 
could have been had only for the discredit thrown 
upon the company by the officials of the reclama- 
tion service. As a result of the work done against 
the company by the reclamation service, it be- 
came necessary for the company to obtain water 
rights from the Colorado river through the Mexi- 
can government in order to protect the company's 
contracts with the mutual water companies com- 
posed of settlers on the government lands. 

The company's water rights were obtained 
originally on United States soil under laws enacted 
by the state of California and recognized by Con- 
gress, but these rights were endangered by Con- 
gress because of the representations made by the 
reclamation officials. 

It was at this point that the late A. H. Heber, 
then president of the California Development Com- 
pany, appeared before a congressional committee 
and asked Congress to do justice to the company 
and to the settlers in the Imperial valley by con- 
firming their rights to the waters of the Colorado 
river, but finding that the efforts of the reclama= 
tion service, in its attempts to ruin both the 
company and the settlers were likely to prevail, he 
declared openly to the committee that if he could 
not get the necessary protection from his own 
government, he would go to Mexico and there 
get the protection that was being denied him by 
Congress— that he would "be compelled to go and 
worship at the shrine of a foreign power." 

He went to Mexico and there he made a con= 
tract with President Diaz for a concession of 
10,000 second feet of water from the Colorado 
river and that concession was ratified by the 
Mexican congress. 

In order to save the settlers of the Imperial 
valley from the attacks of the reclamation ser- 
vice he was compelled to cut a channel into the 



18 



UNFRIENDLY ATTITUDE OF GOVERNMENT TOWARDS IMPERIAL 



Colorado river in Mexican territory four 
miles below the international boundary line in 
order to secure the right to water that was being 
denied him by Congress, and had it not been for 
an untimely flood at a season of the year when 
a low stage of water was to have been expect= 
ed, the headgates would have been put in and 
the disastrous consequences of that work would 
never have occurred. 

This attempt to protect the settlers from the 
attacks of the reclamation service in their water 
rights has cost millions of money, all of which 
eventually must be paid by the settlers, for it is 
the settlers that must in the final settlement foot 
all such bills of expense. 

After the reclamation service failed to get 
control of the Imperial canal system by crippling 
the owner of that system, another change of 
base had to be made. It was then proposed to 
construct the Laguna dam across the river above 
Yuma, and thus reclaim about 90,000 acres of 
land located on either side of the river— a small 
portion of which was located in CaUfornia, but 
the greater portion in Arizona. In deciding to 
build this dam the government forgot its previous 
position that the river was a navigable stream. 
The cost of reclaiming this land was found to be 
from $35 to $40 an acre, a very high figure for 
that class of land. If this expensive system 
could have been spread over 600,000 or 800,000 
acres of land instead of 90,000, the cost per acre 
would have been much less, and it was to accom= 
plish this end that it undertook to crowd our 
company out of the river. 

Owners of the land along the river were slow to 
sign up with the Government, as they already had 
a water system that was doing fairly well, and 
they considered the cost of the change higher 
than it should be. They were only induced 
finally to accept the Government offer by the 
promise of J. B. Lippincott that the government 
would purchase and operate the local systems 
until the Government's system should be com- 
pleted. At least this is the position taken by 
people, and the controversy between the people 
and the Government over this matter is so com- 
plicated and unsatisfactory that the settlers in 
the Imperial valley will be slow to become a 
part of that unsettled condition of affairs. 

Meantime, the farmers along the Colorado river 
have no way of obtaining sufficient water from the 
river for irrigation purposes and consequently are 
suffering great loss. In order to secure water 
from the Colorado river for diversion at the 
Laguna dam, the reclamation service found it 



necessary to make a filing on the surplus waters 
of that stream, and it therefore made such filing, 
notwithstanding the fact that it had but recently 
declared most emphatically that such filing could 
not be legally made. Following is a record of its 
position on the filing question: 

First — It filed on flood water to fill four reser- 
voirs. 

Second — It declared that the waters of the 
Colorado river could not be filed upon because it 
was a navigable stream. 

Third — It again filed on the waters of that 
river to be diverted at the Laguna dam. 

Meantime Arthur P. Davis had declared that 
practically the stream was not navigable, but 
that an ordinary wagon road was better than the 
river for transportation purposes. 

The people of the Imperial valley, since the 
failure of negotiations three years ago, have been 
vigorously opposed to the reclamation program as 
applied to that valley for reasons that are well 
known. 

In your message you state that by a consoli- 
dation of the Laguna dam system with the Im- 
perial canal system it will be po.ssible to irrigate 
500,000 acres of land along the Colorado river and 
300,000 acres in the Imperial valley. As a matter 
of fact there are 500,000 acres of irrigable land in 
the Imperial valley, and the Imperial canal water 
rights are sufficient for that amount of land, and 
it looks as though the reclamation service wanted 
to cut that acreage down nearly one-half so that 
the surplus water could be used elsewhere. 

Taking the statements made in your message 
to congress as a basis of calculations, the following 
conclusions are ine\"itable. 

First — The California Development Company 
has the right to the use of water from the Colorado 
river to irrigate at least 500,000 acres of land. 
Second — That land in the Imperial valley will 
be worth from $500 to $1,500 an acre — an average 
of $1,000 an acre — thus giving a total realty 
valuation of $500,000,000. 

Third— It will require $2,000,000 or more to 
mend the break and make hcadworks permanent 
and substantial and complete the irrigation sys- 
tem. This taken with the present indebtedness 
of the company, will make a total indebtedness 
of $4,000,000, or possibly $5,000,000. 

Fourth — This indebtedness would only amount 
to $10 an acre on the lands to be irrigated, which 
is less than one=third the cost of reclamation of 
lands under the Laguna dam. 

I submit for your careful consideration the 
statements herein made, and all of which I firmly 



LETTER FROM L. M. HOLT TO PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT 



19 



believe to be true, and suggest that they are 
sufficient to establish a cause of action, and that 
action should be a careful examination of the 
whole question by competent and unprejudiced 
persons who desire to know the truth and have 
no axes to grind. 

Sympathizing as I do with the great mass of 
the American people who are not slow to express 
their admiration for the stand which you always 



have taken in favor of justice and right and your 
determination to get bottom facts that will en- 
able you to reach right conclusions, I send you 
this statement of the case, feeling that you 
will give the question that personal consideration 
that its importance demands. 

Yours very truly, 
Los Angeles, Cal., L. M. HOLT. 

February 21, 1907. 



Second Letter of L. M. Holt to the President in Answer 
to His Message 



Hon. Theodore Roosevelt, 

The President, 
Sin- 
Since writing you on the 21st instant, I find 
that one very important point in connection with 
the Government's work in the Imperial Valley 
was overlooked in that letter. I refer to the 
original survey of the Valley by the Government 
and the failure of the Government to correct 
errors of survey which resulted from the imperfect 
work done by the Government surveyor years 
ago. 

The greater portion of the Colorado desert 
was sur\'eyed by the Government in 1856=8. 
This survey covered that portion of the desert 
north of the fourth standard base line. There 
is no evidence that this great worthless desert was 
ever actually surveyed, beyond the possible run= 
ning, in a crude way, of the lines around the town= 
ships. This statement is borne out by the fact 
that none of the very few witness trees can be 
connected with any section comer. There is 
no surveyed land in the United States that was 
considered so absolutely worthless as this great 
desert, and the suryevors who were supposed to 
have charge of the work in 1856=8 evidently be= 
lieved that no one would ever have enough inter= 
est in that country to ascertain whether the sur= 
vey was ever made or not. Another reason for 
believing that the survey was never actually made 
is found in the fact that between the fourth 
Standard Base line on the south and the section 
stakes that can be found on the north there is 
more land than is called for by the maps filed 
in the United States Land Office. Therefore the 
townships of record in that land office, when 
resurveyed, must of necessity be more than six 
miles square. 

The second survey was made in 1878 and 



covered that portion of the desert located be- 
tween the Fourth Standard Base line and the 
International Boundary line, which consists of one 
tier of fractional townships. This survey was 
connected with the International Boundary monu- 
ments and was practically correct. But it does 
not connect with the survey of 1856-8, there 
being a jog of a mile and a half between the two 
surveys. 

In 1900 it became necessary to make a resur- 
vey of this whole country so that settlers could 
locate their claims in the Land Office. Work 
was commenced at the Boundary Une and this 
first tier of townships was surveyed without 
difficulty, but when it came to extending the work 
further north, the trouble began, because (as 
was afterwards discovered ) of that jog in section 
lines of over one and a half miles, for the maps of 
record in the Land Office at Los Angeles did not 
show that discrepancy between the two surveys, 
and as there were no witness trees to be found and 
no section stakes visible, the whole desert for 
fifteen or twenty miles to the north and extend= 
ing from New River on the west to the Alamo 
on the east was incorrectly surveyed as com= 
pared with the original survey; and, to make 
matters worse, on account of there being too 
much land for the number of sections, the farther 
the survey was extended, both north and east, 
the worse became the discrepancy between the 
two surveys. 

The Imperial Land Company made this resur- 
vey, and the discrepancy was not discovered 
unti; 1902. Congress was then asked to ratify the 
lines of the resurvey in order to protect the settlers 
and leave the canals following section and half 
section lies. This was promptly done, but there 
was no appropriation made to carry that decision 
into effect until the Spring of 1906— a delay 



20 



UNFRIENDLY ATTITUDE OF GOVERNMENT TOWARDS IMPERIAL 



of almost four years, while the settlers on 250,000 
acres of government land were unable to make 
final proofs and secure patents for their lands 
which had been taken up honestly, mostly under 
the Desert Act, and made valuable by being re- 
claimed and cultivated. 

In the Spriiiu; of 1006, Coneress made an ap- 
propriation of $20,000 to be used in malting, a 
resurvey of the Imperial Valley in accordance, 
so far as possible, with the survey made by the 
Imperial Land Company. This appropriation 
was made in an emergency deficiency bill and 
took effect at once, and yet after the lapse of 
nearly a year one of the contracts for that work 
has not as yet been let and no attempt has been 
made to hasten the work to relieve the Valley. 

During all this five years of procrastination 
the people have had to wait and suffer serious 
damage by not being able to secure title to their 
lands. During these years hundreds of final 
proofs have been made, but they have all been 
hung up in the Land Department of Washington, 
and the development of the Valley has been 
seriously retarded. 

In the meantime settlers have filed on about 
300,000 acres of that worthless desert land, have 
secured water rights for about 250,000 acres, 
have put under actual cultivation about 125,000 
acres, have created property conservatively es= 
timated as being worth $25,000,000, and have 
paid into the United States Treasury about 
$75,000 as first payment on their land filings, 
promising to make payments of about $300,000 
more when final proofs could be made. All this 
for land that was not worth a cent a section 
until the California Development Company made 
it valuable by constructing a canal system at 
a time when all the powers of the government 
seemed to be used to block their enterprise and 
bankrupt ten thousand American honieseekers, 
on land that the government would neither re= 
claim nor allow a fair field for private enterprise 
to do that work. 

These may seem to be strong statements, Mr. 
President, but they are the honest convictions of a 
man who has spent a tiiird of a century in South- 
ern California, building up its irrigation interests 
— six years of which time has been devoted to the 
interests of the Imperial Valley, and he knows 
whereof he speaks. The statements herein made 
are from personal knowledge and not from here- 
say testimony. 

One obstacle after another was placed by the 
Government and government officials in the way 
of the development of the Valley, until it would 



seem as though there were no limit to the trials 
that the people had to bear. 

Imperial Vclley is located about two hundred 
and fifty miles from the U. S. Land Office in Los 
Angeles, where all the settlers had to come to 
m ke filings, make annual and final proofs, and 
transact other business with the U. S. Govern- 
ment. It costs the settler about $25.00 to make 
that trip. Much of that expense could have been 
saved by the appointment of aCourtCommissioner 
by the U. S. Distict Court for Southern Cali- 
fornia, to reside in the ^'alley. Our Company and 
the settlers in the valley labored for two years 
to get such official appointed, and after the 
appointment was made the incumbent was asked 
by the Court to resign after serving about one 
year, and for the past two years or more there has 
been no such official and the people have been 
compelled to pay thousands of dollars of expense 
in reaching the Land Office, which might have 
been saved had such Court Commissioner been 
appointed to take care of much of the Land Office 
business in that Valley. Neither the writer nor 
the people of the Vallej^ criticize the Court in 
asking for the Commissioner's resignation, but 
they do complain that a suitable successor was 
not appointed to fill the vacancy. 

You can readily see, Mr. President, that a 
company that undertakes such a gigantic and 
theretofore untried reclamation proposition must 
meet with many obstacles in satisfying capitalists 
and settlers that the enterprise was built on a 
solid foundation, but when Government officials 
placed so many obstacles in the way of success 
by declaring the soil so affected with alkali that 
it could not be made productive, that the com= 
pany had no right to the use of the water in its 
irrigation system, and that the land surveys were 
so imperfect that settlers could obtain no title 
to their holdings, it must certainly occur to you 
that both capitalists and settlers would become 
tired of the up=hill pull, that the capitalists 
would become disheartened in making further 
investments in the securities of the company, 
and that even the settlers themselves would feel 
like making no further payments on their water 
rights which had been purchased on easy terms, 
until they could be assured that they were going 
to get title to the lands and water rights for which 
they had contracted, and that the Government 
was going to treat the settlement with fair con= 
sideration. 

This company which you so strenuously criti= 
cizcd and discredited in your message to Congress 
converted that worthless desert into one of the 



LETTER FROM L. M. HOLT TO PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT 



21 



greatest wealth producing sections of the world 
from an agricultural point of view, and denion= 
strated the fact that this comparatively small 
valley could be made, according to your estimate, 
to add $700,000,000 to the wealth of the State 
and Nation. Is it just that this company and 
the men who steered it to victory against great 
odds should be traduced by government officials 
at every turn? Have ten thousand of the nob- 
lest and most courageous people that ever settled 
a new country no legal or moral rights that the 
Government is bound to respect? 

The people of the Valley have good reason to 
believe that the officials of the Reclamation Ser- 
vice are responsible for much of this delay and 
most of the obstacles thrown in the way of success 
to this — the greatest irrigation enterprise in the 
United States. They believe this because they 
know that those officials are desirous of combin- 
ing the Imperial canal system with the Laguna 
Dam enterprise, and thus make a creditable 
showing for their work. 

But such a combination, if accomplished, 
must be made at the expense of the Imperial 
Valley settlers, for, in addition to paying for 
their own system, they would also be required 
to pay the greater portion of the expense of a 
costly dam across the river and a more costly 
canal to bring the water from that dam to the 
Imperial Valley. The people are thus brought to 
a consideration of what that extra expense will be. 

It was estimated at first that the Laguna dam 
would cost about $1,500,000. Already that sum 
of money has been expended and it is now es= 
timated that the dam will cost about $3,000,000. 
The canals and the distributing system from that 
dam for the irrigation of 90,000 acres on either 
side of the river will cost probably $1,000,000 
more. 

Mr. Newell estimates that it will cost $6,000,000 
to construct a canal from the dam to the Imperial 
Valley. Thus we find that the Imperial Valley, 
in addition to constructing its own distribut= 
ing system and paying off the indebtedness 
caused mostly by the attempt to control the Colo= 
rado river, must also pay for a $6,000,000 canal 
and the greater portion of a $3,000,000 dam. It 
is unreasonable to expect that they will consent 
to this, and is it not unjust to try to force it upon 
them? 

The Laguna dam system of 90,000 acres 
should be kept separate from the Imperial Val- 



ley system. Hence each section must pay for its 
own distributing system and become partners 
only in the dam. 

Of course you have many great interests to 
look after and many things must be left to the 
action of your subordinates, but I know that if 
you would authorize an investigation of the 
charges made against the Reclamation officials 
and others who have tried so vigrously to destroy 
the wealth that our Company and the settlers 
have tried to create, \ou would find a condition 
of affairs that might prove to be extreme y use- 
ful in correcting the present n anagen ent and 
in givmg direction to the affairs of the Reclan a- 
tion Bureau in the future. 

The feeling against those officials in the Im- 
perial Valley is very strong, and any proposition 
that might be made to put Imperial Valley under 
the Reclamation Service as at present constitu- 
ted will be rejected by the two thousand or more 
men who have taken up land in that valley in 
order to make homes for themselves and their 
families. 

Reliable information from the settlers under 
the Laguna dam, and also from settlers under the 
Klamath reclamation system, goes to show that 
those settlers are also very bitter in their denun- 
ciation of the Reclamation Service and for good 
cause. 

Copies of this letter and of my former letter 
in connection with your message to congress 
are being sent out in pamphlet form to all mem- 
bers of Congress, to prominent Government offi- 
cials in Washington, to officials and employees 
of the Reclamation Service, to the newspapers 
of California, and to the settlers in the Imperial 
Valley. 

What we want is an impartial investigation of 
these statements. Less we cannot ask — more we 
do not need. A lesser man than yourself, Mr. Presi= 
dent, might wish to confirm a previously expressed 
opinion at all costs, but the American people 
believe that when you have found yourself to 
be the victim of misplaced confidence in others, 
you will vindicate with the same emphasis that 
j'ou have condemned. 

Awaiting your action, I remain. 

Yours very truly, 

L. M. HOLT. 
February 6, 1907 

1049 West 21st Street, 
Los Angeles, Cal. 



Statements of Various Prominent Bankers Illustrating 

the Difficulties of Early Financing and the 

Effect of Soil Reports 



When the California Development Company commenced business early in 1900, it was neces- 
sary that it establish its credit in the business circles of Los Angeles at as early a date as possible. 
The enterprise was so novel and daring in its scope, though of brilliant promise withal, that South- 
ern California banks were disposed to withhold their endorsement, and financial skill of a high 
order was necessary to pilot it through the early stages, even had there been no soil reports to 
combat. 

The Company carried its bank account with the Los Angeles National Bank and in January, 
1901, made application to the bank for a needed credit of $10 000. offering as security all or 
any of the notes and mortgages of those who had purchased land and water stock on deferred pay- 
ments. Neither the Los Angeles National Bank nor any other financial institution in Los Angeles 
would concede any value to the securities for loaning purposes. A copy of the bank's reply to 
this application follows : 

W. C. Patterson. Pres. W. D. Woolwine, Caahier 

P. M. Green, Vicc-Pres. E. W. Coe. Aaat. Caahier 

The Los Angeles Nation.\l B.\nk 

U. S. DEPOSIT.\RY 
Capital, $500,000.00 

Los Angeles, Cal., Jan. 19, 1901. 
California Development Co., 
Stowell Block, 

City. 
Dear Sirs: — In the matter of the proposed loan which you have previously intimated that 
you might possibly desire to negotiate with this bank, I regret that circumstances have conspired 
to create more than an usual amount of delay in reaching a decision upon the part of this bank. 
Feeling that you ought not to be subjected to further suspense I referred the matter to our 
Finance Committee, who gave it careful consideration. 

They report that they are all of the opinion that you have a splendid proposition, and that the 
outlook is very bright for the success of the enterprise, but that they are of the opinion also that in 
the event the venture should prove a failure, the assets of the Company would be of little or no value. 
In that case the re-payment of the loan made to your Company would depend entirely upon 
the success of the venture, and would therefore be more or less of a speculation. 

For the foregoing reasons the Committee have advised the bank adversely to offering the loan 
to your Company at this time. 

It is a matter of personal regret to me that the conditions have not been such as to induce 
a more favorable conclusion. 

Faithfully yours, 

(Sig. ) W. C. Patterson, 

President. 



STATEMENTS OF VARIOUS PROMINENT BANKERS 



23 



In the following letter Mr. Patterson has more particularly identified the transaction referred 
to in the foregoing, and many unacquainted with the difficulties attending the early financial strug- 
gles of the Company will marvel that so great an enterprise could not command at that period of 
its development so small a sum as $10,000. 



J. M. Elliott, President 
Stoddard Jes3, Vice Prea. 
W. C. Patterson, Vice Pres. 
G. E. Bittinger. Vice Pres. 
John S. Cravens, Vice Pres. 



W. T. S. Hammond, Cashier 
A. C. Way, Asat. Cashier 
E. S. Pauly, Asst. Cashier 
E. W. Coe, Asst. Cashier 
A. B. Jones, Asst. Cashier 



First National Bank of Los Angeles 



Los Angeles, Cal., Feb. 20, 1907. 
Mr. A. M. Chaffey, 

L W. Hellman Bldg., 

4th and Main Sts., City, 
Dear Sir: — I remember that in January, 1901, the California Development Co. through you 
applied to the Los Angeles National Bank, of which I was then President, for a loan of $10,000. 
You offered as collateral, a long list of mortgage notes which the Bank refused to accept, for the 
reason that the success of the enterprise was, to say the least, problematical. Inasmuch as the 
signers of these various mortgage notes offered very little in the way of personal financial res- 
ponsibility, the Bank felt that to base a loan of $10,000 upon the mortgages alone, would be 
somewhat like betting $10,000 that the enterprise would be a success. I remember distinctly 
that while we were hopeful, we were by no means certain. 

Yours very truly, 

(Sig.) W. C. Patterson, 

Vice-President. 



The following letter illustrates the extreme reluctance of conservative bankers to recognize the 
merits of the enterprise. Indeed it shows that the personal credit of the then Treasurer of the 
Company was greatly impaired by connection with the undertaking. 



PBE8IDENT 9 OFFICE 

The N.\tional B.\nk of Californi,\ 

AT L09 .VNGELES 

J. E. Fishburn, Pres. 

W. D. Woolwine, Vice Pres. and Caahier 

F. G. Belcher, Jr., Asst. Cashier 

February, 13 1907. 
A. M. Chaffey, Esq. 

220 West Fourth St., 
Los Angeles, Cal. 
Dear Sir: — I beg to confirm our conversation of this morning to this effect: that in the latter 
part of the year 1900 you had an account with this bank, and from time to time as you needed 
to use your credit we took your paper, the largest amount being, as I remember it, $15,000; that 
when this latter loan matured I declined to renew it, giving you as my reason that while 
the account had always been satisfactory, and your financial statement would perhaps warrant 
a loan of that size, still I did not feel comfortable on account of the character of your investments; 
that your personal fortune depended entirely upon the result of the work you were doing on 
the desert, and that roe could not look with favor upon a loan to you when we knew that the money 
was going into what we considered a very hazardous enterprise. 

Yours very truly, 

(Sig. ) J. E. Fishburn, 

President. 



24 



UNFRIENDLY ATTITUDE OF GOVERNMENT TOWARDS IMPERIAL 



It will readily be seen how calamitous to the finances of a company having such a project, 
would be even the faintest whisper that THE IMPERIAL SOIL WAS WORTHLESS, and 
the whole enterprise doomed to ruin. Yet the Government soil experts, apparently disinterested, 
and working for the protection of the people at large against the speculators that would mis- 
lead them, did more than whisper it. They gave it forth far and wide with solemn emphasis 
and official ceremony. 

Here are a few letters from Bankers not only shedding light on early financial difficulties, but 
showing that the soil reports played their full part: 



J. M. Elliott, President 
Stoddard Jes**, Vice Pres. 
W. C. Pattereon, Vice Pre?. 
<!. E. Bittinger, Vice Pres. 
John S. CraveDB, Vice Pres. 



W. T. 8. Hammond. Cashier 
A. C. Way, Aest. Cashier 
E. 8. Pauly, Aast. Cashier 
E. W. Coe, Asst. Cashier 
A. B. Jones. Asst. Cashier 



First National Bank of Los Angeles 



Los Angeles, Cal., Feb. 14, 1907 
Mr. A. M. Chaffey, 

Hellman Bldg., 4th and Main Sts., 

City, 
Dear Sir: — I remember Mr. Geo. Chaffey, your father, applying to me as President of the 
First National Bank, sometime during the Spring of 1901 for a loan for the California Development 
Co., offering certain assets of that Company as security. After looking over the matter, we de- 
termined to decline the loan and did so, our reasons being, as I explained at that time, — 
1st. The uncertainty of the ability of any corporation to entirely overcome the difficulties 
of taking the water from the Colorado River and carrying it for sixty miles to the Imperial Valley, 
and the still greater difficulty of keeping the ditches and canals unclogged by silt even after a 
.successful opening was made. 

2nd. The fact that the Mexican Government, through whose territory a considerable part of 
the canal system ran, might, for technical reasons, at any time cancel its agreement and take 
away the canal. 

Later on, when the canal was successfully opened and when the farmers commenced to suc- 
cessfully cultivate a portion of the valley, the fact that the United States Government' s experts had 
reported that the land was too strongly alkali to he valuable for agriculture for any length of time, 
made us increasingly apprehensive of the value of any of the water shares or water bonds that 
were offered to us by different parties. 

Yours very truly, 

(Sig.) J. M. Elliott, 

President. 



STATEMENTS OF VARIOUS PROMINENT BANKERS 25 

Isaias W. HellmaD, Pres. Charles Seyler. Cashier 

J. A. Graves. Vice Pres. Gustav Heimann, Asst. Cashier 

I. N. Van Nuys, Vice Pres. John Alton, Asst. Cashier 
T. E. Newlin, Vice Free. 

The Farmers and Merchants National Bank 

of los angeles 

Capital, $1,500,000 

Surplus and Profits, $1,500,000 

Cable Address "Hellman" 

Los Angeles, Cal., Feb. 13, 1907. 
Mr. A. M. Chaffey, 
Los Angeles, Cal. 

Dear Sir: — I beg to confirm your statement that during the month of December, 1900, the 
California Development Company tried to negotiate a loan of $50,000 with this Bank, and 
offered as collateral security for such loan $250,000 par value of its first mortgage bonds, and in 
addition thereto such of the mortgages owned by the Company as the Bank would care to se- 
lect. This application was denied, as it seemed by no means certain that the company would 
ever get water from the Colorado River into the Valley, at that time. Some months later, when 
the ditch had been completed and the enterprise was to some extent proven, this Bank sent a 
confidential agent to the Imperial Valley to report on conditions as a guide to us in extending 
credits to customers. Our agent strongly advised us to keep out of the field and gave as one 
o} his principal reasons jor so doing that U. S. Government experts had condemned extensive 
areas as unfit jor agriculture. 

Yours truly, 

(Sig.) J. A. Graves, 

Vice-President. 



The National Bank of California 

at los angeles 



February 15, 1907. 



Mr. A. M. Chaffey, 

Los Angeles, Cal. 

My Dear Mr. Chaffey: — In the matter of a loan asked from the Los Angeles National Bank 
for the California Development Company in the early part of January, 1901, I recall that 
you offered to secure the loan by pledging assets of the company consisting of bonds and mort- 
gages very largely in excess of the amount applied for. After full consideration by the Finance 
committee of the Los Angeles National Bank, of which I was then Cashier, it was thought ad- 
visable to decline the loan. There was a general feeling, in which we participated, that there 
might be trouble with the Mexican government on account of your canal running through Mexi- 
can territory. This was prior to the completion of the canal, as I remember. After the canal 
was completed, and the water was turned in, there was a much more hopeful feeling, but 
thereafter the feeling became current that because oj the opinion expressed by the United States 
government officials, large bodies oj the soil in the district to be irrigated were impregnated by salt 
and alkali, which made it practically impossible to obtain loans on the securities of the company. 

Later it was found that the reports of the government officials were much overstated, bid the dam- 
age to the section and the company was, however, quite considerable. It was stated to us by those 
in a position to know the facts that the surveys of the government were of such a nature that it ivas 
difficult to obtain patents for the lands, which worked a hardship on the enterprise. 

In conclusion I will say that I believe L have not made as strong a case out of this as the facts 
would possibly warrant, but it is a long time since it occurred, and I prefer to be conservative rather 
than extreme. 

Very truly yours, 

(Signed) W. D. Woolwine, 

Vice-President 



Government Obstruction and Government Criticism 



The management in 1900-1902 did not forget that many of their most disfouraging difficulties 
were those interposed by the Federal Government. Consequently it was hard for them to submit to 
be roundly criticized by the President in his message of January, 1907, for their alleged shortcom- 
ings. Mr. George Chaffey wrote with some emphasis to the President along these lines in a letter of 
January 15, 1907, which follows: 

Letter from George Chaffey, formerly President and Manager of the 

CaHfornia Development Company, to the President 

in Answer to His Message 



To his Excellency, Theodore Roosevelt, President 
of the United States, Washington, D. C. 

Sir: The telegraphic dispatches credit your 
message to congress on the subject of the Colorado 
river break with the following paragraphs: 

"The money thus obtained from settlers was not used 
in pennanent development, but apparently disappeared, 
either in profits to the principal promoters or in the numer- 
ous subsidiary companies which to a certain extent fed 
upon the parent company or served to ob.scure its opera- 
tions. The history of those deals is so complicated that 
it would require careful research extending through many 
months to unravel the various ways by which the money 
and securities have di.sappeared. In brief, it is sufficient 
to state that the valuable considerations which were re- 
ceived from water rights were obviously not used in pro- 
viding necessary and permanent works for furnishing 
water to the settlers. 

"The California Development Company Ixigan its work 
by making representations to possible settlers of the great 
profits to be derived by them by the taking up of this 
land. The claims were not only extravagant, but in 
many cases it appears that willful misrepresentations 
were made. Many of the operations of this company 
tended to mislead uninformed settlers. At first the success 
of the company was great and it disposed of water rights 
at prices sufficiently large to obtain fair revenue, either 
in cash or in securities of value. 

"The whole enterprise and the spirit of those promo- 
ting it as well as of the numerous smaller speculators at- 
tracted to the subsidiary offer were of the most visionary 
character. Actual investments have been small compared 
to the estimates of wealth which seemed po.ssible of reali- 
zation. The company entered upon its construction work 
with large plans but with inadequate capital. .\ll of 
its -structures for the control and distribution of water 
were temporary in character, l>eing built of wood and of 
the smallest possible dimensions. Through the efforts 
thus mads a large amount of land was brought under 
cultivation and at one time it was reported that over 
100,000 acres were being more or less irrigated." 



I take it that the foregoing refers, in large part 
at least, to the management of the California De- 
velopment Company from April 1, 1900, to 
February 12, 1902, when I was its president, for 
while the company had been organized four years 
prior to 1900 it had done in that period no work 
of any kind, and it was during the period of my 
management that the canals were first built and 
the enterprise was given tangible form and secured 
tangible results. I so assume because those guilty 
of making the cut in the river in 1904 have sought 
to shift responsibility for their shortcomings to 
me upon the pretext that the original canal was 
improperly built, and because subsequently the 
Southern Pacific Company for purposes of its own 
has made, but has not yet established, sundry 
charges of early mismanagement and industriously 
sought to procure their general acceptance by 
repeated reiteration. 

While not altogether persuaded that the fore- 
going paragraphs are in your opinion a material 
part of the message to congress, nor that congress 
will deem the subject matter referred to a rele- 
vant matter for inquiry, it is very clearly my duty 
to enter a respectful but emphatic denial of the 
statements, references and suggestions therein 
contained. In this connection I am mindful that 
I cannot hope to modify the popular impressions 
that are derived from an official statement made 



LETTER FROM GEORGE CHAFFEY TO PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT 



27 



by the chief magistrate of the United States, but 
only to persuade you, Mr. President, that there 
is another side of the stor\% and, it may be, to 
suggest to the future historian of the Imperial 
valley a line of inquiry which he may at his leisure 
investigate. 

Permit me then with all deference to say: 

(1 ) That all the money obtained from settlers 
during the period of my management of the 
California Development Company was used in 
permanent development; and futhermore, that 
much more than twice the money so received was 
so used and expended. 

(2) That the subsidiary companies were or- 
ganized at a time when the California Develop- 
ment Company had nothing upon which they 
could feed, and each severally performed its share 
of the development of an enterprise which in its 
conception was sufficiently vast and sufficiently 
novel (the reclamation act of 1902 was not then 
passed) to absorb the energies of them all, along 
different lines of activity. 

(3 ) That aside from the money received from 
settlers the one only remaining source of income 
was the securities in the form of notes and mort- 
gages and bonds of the company which were re- 
ceived and issued by it, and wluch had value 
only upon the assumption that the enterprise 
was a sound one. 

(4) That aside from the ordinary difficulties 
experienced in selling the securities of a company 
embarked in a novel and hazardous undertaking, 
obstacles well nigh insurmountable were inter= 
posed by officials of the government of the United 
States, to=wit: the soil experts of the department 
of agriculture who reported the soil of Imperial 
valley as absolutely unfit for agriculture, gave out 
to farmers, through the press of the country, 
solemn warnings against being inveigled by our 
attempts to colonize the Colorado desert. 

(5) That we who were giving our undivided 
energies to, and had staked our reputations upon 
a great enterprise undertaken by us prior to any 
government efforts at reclamation, were by this 
unfortunate official action compelled to pledge 
our personal credit and to involve every dollar 
of our private resources, in a desperate effort to 
achieve the success to which we believed the pro- 
ject entitled; and that so far from doing anything 
discreditable, we were and are entitled to the 
greatest credit for the successful engineering and 
financing of the project in its early dayr. and un- 
der conditions peculiarly trying and disheartening. 

(6 ) That the company at all times had enough 
of these various securities, in face value to put 



in the most permanent improvements and would 
long since have been able to do so but for the per- 
sistent hostility of certain federal officials, first 
the soil experts of the department of agriculture, 
and afterwards and subsequent to my connection 
with the company, by officials of the reclamation 
service, who, under the protection and with the 
prestige of their official position, lost no opportun- 
ity of discrediting the Development Company and 
its water rights, and the soil and prospects of 
the Imperial valley, all in direct conflict with the 
helpful spirit and purpose of the reclamation act 
of 1902 under which they held their official posi- 
tions; and at the self same time were themselves 
engaged in a project to divert the waters of the 
Colorado to a very much less extensive tract of 
much poorer land and at a very much greater cost 
per acre. 

(7 ) That the only extravagant claims or will- 
ful misrepresentations made to settlers in the 
Imperial valley were made by federal soil experts 
and officials of the reclamation service. 

(8) That the settlers were not misinformed 
men, or misled by the company, but were and are 
experienced farmers who have made much money 
from their holdings from the very first. 

(9 ) That the enterprise was not visionary in 
character but on the contrary that the actual ac= 
complishment has surpassed every dream of the 
original management, and will indeed some day 
justify the more sanguine estimate of future 
values contained in a subsequent paragraph of 
the message from which the foregoing paragraphs 
are quoted. 

I note also the following paragraph of the mes- 
sage in the press dispatches: 

"The first heading of the canal of the Cahfomia Develop- 
ment Company was made in the United States immediate- 
ly north of the Mexican border. It was found after a 
time that the heading on the American side of the line 
did not give a grade to furnish sufficient flow of water 
and after headings had been opened at other points with- 
out successful re.sults, a cut in the river bank was made 
further down in Mexican territory. This gave the water 
a shorter and steeper course toward the valley. The mak- 
ing of this cut in a bank composed of light soil above a de- 
pression such as this without controlling devices was 
criminal negligence. This short cut on Mexican soil was 
made in the fall of 1904. It was gradually eroded by the 
passage of water and in the spring of 1905 the floods of 
the Colorado river entering the artificial cut rapidly widen- 
ed and deepened it until the entire flow of the river was 
turned west down the relatively steep slope into the Im- 
perial valley, and thence into what is known as the Salton 
sink or Salton sea." 

Will you permit me, with entire deference, to 
add that there was something other than criminal 
negligence involved in the cutting of the river bank 
in Mexico by C. R. Rockwood in September, 1904, 
and that it was not the result of defects in the lo- 



28 



UNFRIENDLY ATTITUDE OF GOVERNMENT TOWARDS IMPERIAL 



cation or the construction of the original heading 
of the canal. 

It is a matter of government record that the 
California Development Company in the spring 
and summer of 1904 attempted to get congress to 
pass a law declaring that the waters of the Colo- 
rado were more valuable for irrigation than for 
navigation, and that upon the recommendation 
of the reclamation service this attempt was de= 
feated. 

It is a matter of government record that the 
president of the California Development Company, 
irritated by the opposition of the reclamation 
service to the legislation sought, notified the con- 
gressional committee investigating the matter 
that the company would make appropriation and 
diversion of the water in Mexican territory in 
order that the company might acquire a water 
right under Mexican law, and obtain the aid and 
support from an alien power that it was unable to 
obtain from its own government. 

It is a matter of government record that the 
old Imperial canal from the old intake carried 
throughout the summer of 1904 and up until Oct- 
tober, 1904, when the Mexican intake was cut, 



more water than it had ever carried and quite 
ample to supply the users in the Imperial valley. 

(See Clapp's report on stream measurements 
for 1904, Water Supply and Irrigation, paper 13, 
page 27, and compare with measurements in 
previous years. ) 

The conclusion follows that it was not because 
of the inadequate nature of the old canal that 
the new one was cut. 

It was cut with the idea of securing a water 
right under Mexican laws which the Mexican 
government would protect against the hostile 
machinations of the reclamation service. 

In conclusion permit me to disclaim any desire 
to reflect upon the relcamation service as such 
or upon the great work which it is accomplish- 
ing, or upon the higher officials in charge thereof 
who necessarily have been obliged to rely upon 
information furnished them at second hand by 
subordinates in the field. 

I have the honor to subscribe myself. 
Most respectfully. 

GEORGE CHAFFEY. 
Los Angeles, Jan. 15, 1907. 



The Reclamation Service and Some of Its Activities 

Against Imperial Subsequent to the 

Soil Reports. 



The following extracts are taken from a statement published by the late A. H. Heber in 1904, 
at which time he was President of the California Development Company. 



"It will be remembered that in the winter of 
the present year, J. B. Lippincott, supervising 
engineer of the reclamation service, saw fit to 
question the right of the California Development 
Company, which has pioneered the reclamation 
and settlement of the Imperial Valley, to divert 
water from the Colorado river for the purpose 
of irrigating the Colorado desert. He conferred 
with his superiors in the reclamation service 
and obtained their unqualified and ardent sup- 
port to defeat legislation then pending before 
Congress, which was in effect to declare the water 
of the Colorado River more valuable for irriga- 
tion than for navigation. 

"The position taken by the reclamation service 
against this meritorious private enterprise, whether 
wantonly or ignorantly, has been the means of 
great injury to the company, to the valley, and 
to the people living therein. 

"Immigration was checked, the settler has be- 
come disgruntled and has refused or neglected 
to plant summer crops as he should have done, 
in the face of the fact that for the past sixty days, 
from 30,000 to 50,000 inches surplus water has 
been running through the canals and ditches 
owned by the company and the settler, into waste 
places, and as much more wasted at the river; 
farm and ranch improvements have been stopped; 
the press throughout the country is publishing 
detrimental interviews and statements and mis- 
statements concerning the valley, thus keeping 



out newcomers who had intended to locate and 
contribute to the development of the valley. 
Prior to the attack the pre.ss of the country was 
universally commendations. 

"Capital has ceased to flow therein; new enter- 
prises which had been planned have been checked 
or entirely discouraged. 

"The company has entailed and sustained 
ernormous and irreparable loss, which was pre- 
dicted by the writer before the Committee on 
Irrigation, by the attack made upon it. Its 
credit has been injured and purposely so with 
the hope that failure would ensue. * * * * 

"I appeal to a righteous public whether or 
not the company is entitled to a just reward 
for the service rendered in creating millions of 
wealth in the valley where not an insect could 
live before; where not a man could travel without 
danger of losing his life. 

"But where, today, through the efforts of the 
company, the people and the public can ride 
into the valley in Pullman cars, secure lodging 
in good hotels; where all the comforts of civil- 
ization are in evidence; where churches and 
school houses have been erected, comparing 
favorably with any community in Southern 
California; where education is on the rise and 
where man can go and secure a comfortable 
home at reasonable cost and support his family 
in comfort." 



Attack by the Reclamation Service on the Imperial 

Valley Water Rights and the California 

Development Company 



Early in 1904 the Redding Free Press of Shasta County, Cahfomia, pubHshed a clipping from 
the Detroit, Michigan, Journal, which illustrated at that time the animus that was felt by the Re- 
clamation Ser\'ice Bureau of the Geological Survey. It was headed "Millions for water that is not 
supplied. Government engineer tells how people have been deceived." 



"George Y. Wisner, the consulting engineer 
of the Reclamation Bureau of the Interior De- 
partment, is in his home city for a few days, after 
a business trip in the west which has occupied 
his time since last November. Concerning the 
reclamation work in the west, Mr. Wisner says: 

"One of the biggest sensations in the west at 
the present in the matter of irrigation of land, 
is the disclosure in regard to the Imperial Irriga= 
tion Company, which diverted some of the waters 
from the Colorado River for the purpose of irri= 
gating lands in old Mexico. Their ditch is about 
60 miles long; as a matter of fact, it was able to 
utilize an old river bed, and engineering difficul== 
ties are few, but their troubles are only commenc= 
ing. They got a flow of about 900 cubic feet 
per minute from the river, which is reduced to 
450 feet at the outlet by evaporation and seepage. 
The result is that only enough water reaches 
the Mexican lands to supply 50,000 acres, but 



the Company has sold water rights, at the rate 
of $20 an acre, for 271,000 acres and has the 
money. 

"It is a nice little clean-up for the company. 
They have taken in mililons; and the contracts 
are so drawn that the company is not responsi- 
ble if the water supply is short. The water users 
are now kicking for water, and the company 
tells them plainly the supply is short. The users 
are looking hard into their legal rights. There 
is a question whether the company has any right 
to divert water from the Colorado River, it being 
a navigable stream, and no permission was ob= 
tained from the government." 

The statements made by Mr. Wisner were 
false in every essential particular and if he did 
not know whereof he spoke he was not a fit 
person to act in any capacity for the government 
and should have been summarily dismissed from 
the service. 



Political Engineer Lambasts Imperial. ---Department 

of Fiction of Reclamation Service Still 

Falsifying the Facts 



Imperial Daily Standard, April 4. 1907 

L. C. Hill, supervising political engineer of the department of fiction of the reclamation service, 
is out with a characteristic attack on Imperial valley in the Pacific monthly. 

As is the case with other members of the large corps of writers employed by the so=called reclama= 
tion service, his versatile imagination is hampered by no facts. 

He is as free from the restraints of stern reality as were the visionary political engineers of his 
own ilk who designed the uncertain Laguna project at the cost of many millions for a small tract of 
land. 

The falsification of facts which this eminent political engineer uses as the warp and woof of read= 
able fiction shows the animus of the article. It is the old, old story of the desperate determination of 
the service to coerce Imperial valley into coming to its relief and thus saying the Laguna dam project 
from becoming the most gigantic engineering failure in the history of the \\ est. 

In attempting to discredit the reclamation work of Imperial valley, on the ground that the private 
corporation did not build its system as rapidly as it expected to, this employe of the department for the 
prevention of irrigation fails to take note of worse failures of his own bureau. 

He ignores the fact that in the building of the Truckee=Carson project land that had been regularly 
irrigated for thirty years was deprived of yvater, the land returned to the desert and the ruined farmers 
forced to desert the homesteads yvhere they had prospered for a generation. 

He fails to speak of the farmers below Yuma where the farmers yvere beginning to prosper and 
the cultivated area yvas spreading rapidly until the blighting touch of the so=called reclamation service 
fell upon them, and the land relapsed to desert and the wrecked farmers packed their feyv belongings 
in wagons and moved on to seek a land where there was no government bureau ready to sand=bag them 
and rob them of their last dollar. 

There is no more pathetic story in all the wild West, than this, heard almost yvherever the recla= 
mation service has obtained a foothold, of the ruin and absolute desolation brought to the irrigated 
farms by the politicians sent out in the name of reclamation for the ostensible object of making the 
wilderness to bloom, but in reality to draw fat salaries for their incompetent service, willing to sow 
desolation yvhere they expected to plant homes, if only their big salaries roll on in endless procession. 



L. C. Hill, Supervising Engineer of the U. S. Reclama- 
tion Service, Tries to Discredit the 
Imperial Valley 



The April number of the Pacific Monthly publishes an illustrated article by L. C. Hill, Lippin- 
cott's successor as Supervising Engineer of the United States Reclamation Service, which is in keep- 
ing with the work of his predecessor. 

We reproduce a few extracts from that article and publish them below with comments thereon 
in parallel columns: 

"Land values went soaring; there was a huge 
business in water rights, and the bond issues of 
the corporations were readily floated in the East 
and on the Pacific Coast. Plans were formu- 
lated — on paper — for the rejuvenation of one 
million acres and the promoters were counting 
prospective profits amounting to many mil- 
lions. In the light of our present knowledge the 
whole affair reads like another South Sea Island 
(?) bubble." 



See letters from Bankers, pages 22 to 25 in= 
elusive, for a refutation of these statements, which 
are wild and untruthful. 



"Water rights were sold far in excess of the 
capacity of the main canal and the merry game 
of "frenzied finance" was played to the limit." 



Read bankers' letters again in answer to this. 



"No controlling works were provided and this 
temporary expedient finally brought about a 
catastrophe which now spells bankruptcy to the 
company and total loss of property to the set- 
tlers. It is said that Mexico was not informed 
of this new heading, and it is to be hoped that 
this is true, for it was a criminal piece of work." 



And the Reclamation Service is responsible 
for the conditions which forced this state of af= 
fairs. See George Chaffey's letter page 27. 



"Perhaps it should not be the source of won- 
derment that the men whose criminal careless- 
ness had brought all this trouble on the valley 
were not able to appreciate the task before them." 



It did take the management a little time to 
realize the fact that they had to fight the Recla- 
mation Service. 



L. C. HILL, OF U. S. RECLAMATION SERVICE, DISCREDITS IMPERIAL 



33 



"With the destruction of the brush dam, the 
old CaUfornia Development Company passes 
from the scene of activities for the present. The 
prospective millions are gone also." 

"The ruin of the valley meant enormous loss 
of freight receipts, for, although in the infancy 
of its development, the wonderful crop yields 
had made this region the third largest shipping 
point in Southern California." 



Perhaps, but with the continued and un- 
reasonable opposition of the Reclamation Service, 
the settlers of the Imperial Valley are becom- 
ing united in their work to take care of them- 
selves. See action Imperial Chamber of Com- 
merce, pages 40 and 41. 



To be destroyed by the Reclamation Service, 
if possible. 



"In a few months, part of New River had been 
transformed into a canyon forty feet deep, 1,500 
feet wide and sixty miles long. In a year the 
river had excavated four Panama Canals." 



A wild statement — like all the rest of the 
statements that emanate from that source; state- 
ments that ten thousand settlers in the valley 
know to be untrue. 



"It engulfed a town, destroyed a railroad and 
swallowed 40,000 acres of land." 

"In places the down rushing waters tumbled 
over precipices forty feet high, veritable Niagaras, 
or dashed madly between high precipitous walls 
in a succession of foamy rapids. At such points 
the river cut back rapidly, sometimes at the rate 
of three-quarters of a mile a day. It was this 
back-cutting which caused the settlers most 
concern and which constitutes the greatest 
present menace to their homes and property." 



"Ruin will come from the rapid deepening of 
the canal which supplies their small ditches." 



"" Another wild statement made for effect. No 
town was engulfed and not over 1,000 acres of 
Imperial land was damaged. 



Trying to create public sentiment in favor of 
the Reclamation Service and scare the settlers 
of the Valley to such an extent that they will 
surrender and turn all their property rights over 
to the Reclamation Bureau. But they won't. 
See I. W. Qleason's Report, pages 8, 9 and 10. 



At least the Reclamation engineers hope so; as 
is evidenced by the tone of an article by L. C. 
Hill, Supervising Engineer U. S. Reclamation 
Service, published in Pacific Monthly for April, 
1907. 



"There is a limit, however, to the amount of 
money and effort which any corporation will 
expend on work so formidable and uncertain." 

"The permanent works upon which the fu- 
ture of the Imperial Valley alone can rest safely 
cannot be erected near the international boun- 
dary or in Mexico. We might as well look the 
situation squarely in the face. There has been 
too much inclination in the past to shut our eyes 
to facts. The unvarnished truth is that Imperial 
Valley will never be free from the horror which 
hangs over it today until the Colorado River is 
checked by a structure, with both ends in solid 
rock, and its banks protected for man)' miles 
by the most perfect levees ever made." 



A valley valued at $25,000,000, or, to accept 
President Roosevelt's estimate, $500,000,000, 
is worth saving, and the limit for that work is 
not yet reached. If the Reclamation Service 
gets hold of it, then it will be time to look out. 



The tenor of the entire article leads up to this 
position. The Reclamation engineers said the 
runaway Colorado river could not be controlled. 
They were mistaken. They say the Laguna 
dam will stand. They may be mistaken again. 



34 



UNFIUKNDLY ATTITUDK OF CiOVERNMKXT TOW'ARDS IMPERIAL 



"For several years the Reclamation Service 
has been engaged in preliminary surveys of vari- 
ous reservoir sites, in making borings for bed 
rock, and in measuring stream flow." 



Yes. See statements regarding the Arthur 
P. Davis report in L. M. Holt's letter to ['resi= 
dent Roosevelt, pages 1 6 and 1 7. 



"The work of the Reclamation Service now 
under way for the irrigation of lands in and 
around Yuma constitutes an important unit in 
any comprehensive project to reclaim Imperial 
Valle}' and adjacent areas in Mexico. Laguna 
dam, ten miles northeast of Yuma, is admirably 
located. Its site is where the river has cut 
through a natural dyke of granite, so that both 
abutments of the dam are in solid rock and the 
river can never cut around them." 



Yes. See Annual Report of I. W. Qleason, 
President of Imperial Water Company No. 7, 
on pages 8 and 9. 



"While it is impos.sible to furnish an estimate 
now of the cost of enlarging the Yuma project 
to this extent, the very large area which would 
be reclaimed justifies the statement that the 
cost would not be too burdensome. It would 
certainly be less than settlers under several other 
projects have willingly obligated themselves to 
pay." 



The settlers and land owners under the La= 
guna dam don't think so. See Qleason's report 
again — pages 8 and 9. 



"The question has been asked why the settlers 
of Imperial Valley, who have already paid once 
for the water to irrigate their lands, should be 
required to pay again, and why the Government 
should not furnish it to them gratis. You might 
as well ask the Government to reimburse the 
man who bought a gold brick." 



That may be true, but the settlers of the Im= 
perial Valley do not propose to purchase a gold 
brick from the Reclamation Service. 



"We have conditions elsewhere in the West 
very similar to those now existing in the Im- 
perial Valley, where the people, the real home- 
builders, have bought and paid for water rights 
which did not carry any water. Afterwards 
they came to the (Government for aid. They 
did not seek reimbursement of the money so 
expended. The rights were valueless, and they 
entered into an agreement with the Government 
to purchase new ones, mortgaging their lands 
to the Government as security for the repayment 
of the cost of the irrigation works." 



If the Reclamation Service will keep their 
hands off, the settlers of the Imperial Valley 
will not need any help. 



"A similar opportunity may be offered to the 
Imperial Valley settlers if Congress makes pro- 
vision for the Government to take charge of the 
work." 



Not if the settlers of the Imperial Valley under= 
stand themselves, and we think they do. 



L. C. HILL, OF U. S. RECLAMATION JSfmvICE, DISCREDITS IMPERIAL 



35 



Keep that Reclamation Service out of the 
Valley and there is no danger of snapping the 
thread. If Congress does not keep them cut, 
the settlers will. 



"You must live in the desert to realize the 
position of those who dwell in Imperial Valley. 
Here is an absolute desert, a great bowl sunken 
200 feet below the level of the sea and covering 
2,000 square miles. It is almost rainless, and 
hotter than Sahara. It has no wells. An arti- 
ficial civilization has been built up in the midst 
of what was once awful desolation, a civilization 
dependent for its very breath of life upon a 
slender thread of water. Snap that thread and 
life is no longer possible. Disconnect the valley 
from the thread and civilization vanishes and 
the desert once more claims its own." 

And now, finally if the dam and levee on the Colorado river stand, the Imperial canal system will 
stand without anj' outside help or interference. If they do not stand, the Reclamation Service can 
do the Valley no good, for the channel of the Colorado river will deepen up past the Laguna dam, 
and it will go out, and all the Reclamation engineers in the world cannot save it. If the Imperial 
Valley and Southern Pacific Company cannot make good their dam and levee along the river, the 
Reclamation Service need not try to help in saving it. 



J. A. Graves, Vice President of the Farmers and Mer- 
chants National Bank in Speaking of the Los 
Angeles Bank Clerks Banquet, Thurs- 
day Evening, April 1 1, 1907, 
Said in Part: 



1 recently spent a few days in the Imperial Valley, and assure jou that an empire has been opened 
up in that section, without the knowledge of most of our people. When all the lands in this valley are 
irrigated, it can supply Southern California and many eastern markets with beef, mutton, pork, fruits 
and vegetables. 



The Attempt to get Congressional Legislation Remov- 
ing Possible Question of the Imperial Water 
Rights and the Defeat of the Bill by 
the Reclamation Service 



While the bill was before Congress in April, 1904, declaring that the waters of the Colorado 
river were more valuable for irrigation than for navigation. Congressman Bell of California, a mem- 
ber of the Public Lands Committee, while discussing the bill before that Committee said: 



"I believe that the sooner Congress legalizes 
the diversion of water from that river by Ameri= 
can citizens for American soil, the better off we 
will be. We do not know how soon a diversion 
may be made from some point on Mexican soil 
— not necessarily by Mr. Heber's Company, but 
by some other great corporation, and then a 
prior use of that water set up as an obstacle to 
our using it on American soil." 

"Four years ago this spring the first settlers 
went into the Colorado desert, into this Imperial 
valley. Before that, there was no living creat- 
ture — insect, bird or beast — that could live upon 
the Colorado desert. Now we have over ten 
thousand people in that desert. We have churches 
and school houses and banks, factories, railroads, 
— everything that civilization can bring to the 
country, and it has been done by private enter- 
prise. This great enterprise, instead of being 
discouraged, should be encouraged, and we should 
come to its relief. We should act justly and 
equitably, man to man, with it upon pure prin- 
ciples of equity, not with any intention that we 
may sometime discourage an enterprise. The 
reclamation service may see fit to absorb it. 
I say, all credit to these men who have gone in 
Ihere. I do not care how many millions they 
make if they are not oppressive. I do not want 
to see them oppress settlers. It was a gamble 



for this set of men to go in there and do what 
they have done; it was more than a hundred to 
one against them, and if they make money they 
deserve it, and should not be discouraged. I 
believe in encouraging private enterprises — in 
taking up their schemes if they are as good as this 
one." 

A WORD FROM THE CHAIRMAN 

When Congressman Bell closed his remarks, 
Mr. Mondell of Wyoming, Chairman of the Com= 
mittee, said he heartily agreed with everything 
that Mr. Bell had said, and other members of the 
Committee congratulated Mr. Bell and assured 
him that their views coincided with his. 

A WORD FROM NEBRASKA 

Mr. Hitchcock, of Nebraska, an influential 
Democratic member of Congress, said: 

"It seems preposterous to me that Congress 
should now be allowed to strike down this great 
corporation that has done this civilizing work 
and permit the government to acquire it, when 
the government heretofore has proved to be 
absolutely incompetent to do the work. If such 
a precedent c\'er is established, it will seriously 
depress the industrial development of the West- 
ern countrv." 



STATEMENTS BY CONGRESSMEN ON IMPERIAL MATTERS 



37 



Mr. Williamson, of Oregon, said: 

"The reasons which control my position on 
the repeal of the desert land laws control me re- 
garding this measure. I am in favor of private 
enterprises. Mr. Bell expressed my views per- 
fectly. I have just told Mr. Heber that I want 
him to understand and want the people of Cali- 
fornia to understand that this committee is not 
going to permit a few agitators to injure his 
property, or retard the great work that his com= 
pany is doing." 

Mr. Vanduzer, of Nevada, said: 

"Private enterprise has made the West. Every- 



body who knows anything knows that. As a 
democrat, I am against monopoly, but I am in 
favor of supporting men who have the courage 
and foresight to do the things the California 
Development Company has done. It has done 
enduring work, and Congress is obligated, by 
every consideration of justice and fair pay, to 
see to it that no obstacle is thrown in the path 
of its development. I am in favor of permitting 
that company to have all the water it needs to 
irrigate the Imperial Valley." 

The above extracts are taken from a special 
dispatch from Washington to the Los Angeles 
Times of April 11, 1904. 



Miscellaneous Statements by the Press 



THE GOVERNMENT CLOUDS THE TITLE 
The San Francisco Chronicle, in two separate articles during April, 1904, makes use of the 
following language: 



"It has remained for the United States to cloud 
the title to this water. * * * 

"There is little danger to the company from 
this aspect of the case, but it was improper for 
the United States to even cloud the title of a 
meritorious enterprise. 

"The Imperial Company has appealed to Con- 
gress not only to legalize its diversion of the wat- 
ers of the Colorado, but to declare the rights of 
irrigation to be paramount to those of naviga- 
tion." * * * 

"Congress has disposed of the controversy 
in regard to the diversion of the water of the Colo= 
rado river by the Imperial colony, by referring 
the matter to the Secretary of the Interior for 
investigation and report. The reference is a 
very unfortunate one, as it virtually commits 
the "investigation" of a controversy to the ag= 
gressixe part\ in that controversj, and the na= 
turc of the "report" may be safely predicted. 

:i'. * :i::i::i: ilii Up :i: H: ii: ^ si::}: ^i: 

"It is the theory of the National Irrigation 
Act that the Federal Governmeiit shall untler- 
take irrigation projects too costly to be attempted 
by other agencies — not to interfere with and 
attempt to destroy local enterprises well under 
way ." 

LIPPINCOTT FIGHTS THE IMPERIAL 
SETTLERS 

J. B. Lippincott was connected with the Rec- 
lamation Service during 1904. and was the leader 
in the move to have the government take awaj' 
the water from the Imperial settlers and put 
it in the hands of the Reclamation Service. 
The Redlands Daily Review, in speaking of this 
situation, says: 



"And to add to their discomfort and to the 
worry of those who did get water enough, and 
whose crops are doing well, the old fight between 
Engineer Lippincott, of the Government's force, 
and the Imperial Land Company has reached 
an acute stage. Mr. Lippincott says the Land 
Company has diverted the water from the Colo- 
rado river in violation of law. In consequence, 
Mr. Heber of the Land Company has gone to 
Washington and is attempting to put an act 
through Congress that will legalize the action 
of taking water from the river and will thus 
relieve that part of the situation." 

MORE USEFUL FOR IRRIGATION THAN 
FOR NAVIGATION 

While the bill providing that the waters of the 
Colorado river were more useful for irrigation 
than for navigation was before Congress, the 
press of Southern California was practically a 
unit in declaring that the bill should pass. The 
Los Angeles Daily Herald, in May, 1904, says: 

"A good- beginning has been made in this 
enterprise. The development company early ob= 
tained the written assent of the then secretary 
of war — the Colorado being a^navigable stream — 
to the use of the waters of the river for irrigation 
purposes. 

"The company filed on .500,000 inches of water 
of the flow of the Colorado river, and immed- 
iately commenced the work of construction to 
make that filing good. The water was claimed 
for a beneficial purpose — to be used in reclaim- 
ing and making valuable a vast tract of the then 
worthless lands belonging to the government 
and converting that desert waste into homes. 



MISCELLAXEOUS STATEMEXTS BY THE PRES 



39 



A portion of the water was to be used also in 
reclaiming a large tract of naturally very 
fertile lantl below the line in Lower California. 
"What was the result? The Imperial settle- 
ment grew more rapidly than the company was 
able to extend the system of distributing canals 
and supply the water. During the past three 
years over 700 miles of irrigating canals have 
been built and it has required more money than 
the company could temporarily command to 
do that work. New head gates at the head of 
the main canal on the Colorado river had to be 
built in order to supply the ever-increasing call 
for more water; and just as the company was 
entering the market to secure more funds to 
complete the work the government employes 
having in charge the work of constructing irri= 
gation works by the government filed on all the 
surplus waters of the Colorado river, which had 
the effect of throwing a cloud over the company's 
title. Tliis, of course, interposed an obstacle 
to the progress of the company's plans, and it 
was for the purpose of removing the obstacle 
that the bill to quiet title was introduced. 

"Passage of the bill to quiet title will remove 
the one obstacle to the consummation of the 
company's plan. Congress should give its assent 
not only to assist those who are turning the arid 
desert into a fertile garden, but to protect the 
9,000 settlers who have already secured rights 
under the system." 

HOSTILE TO THE AMERICAN SPIRIT 

A Washington correspondent of the Los An- 
geles Times, under date of April 6, 1904, writes: 

"I do not think I exaggerate when I state 
that the proposition advanced by the opponents 
of the measure is hostile to the American spirit, 
subsersive of American institutions, and fatal 
to the progress and prosperity, not only of Cali- 
fornia, but of every section of our common coun- 
try. 

"When divested of the specious arguments 
that envelop it. the proposition made by the 
opponnents of the bill is little less than an ex- 
pressed determination to revive in this country 
the idea of paternalism in government, to stifle 
individuality, to undermine the genius and in- 



dustry of the people and to dampen the spirit 
of initiative and originalitj' that has made this 
nation great. * * * 

"As I read the testimony given before the 
Congressional Committee regarding the work 
done in the Imperial Valley, the thought came 
home to me with tremendous force that here 
was another illustration of that characteristic 
American enterprise that has made this nation 
strong and comely in the eyes of the world. 
It seemed almost incomprehensible that any 
American, and especially any Californian, could 
fail to appreciate the purpose and spirit that 
animated the California Development Company, 
or could now, when that company is in a fair 
way of reaping the just reward of its patient 
labors, attempt to strike down that corporation 
and paralyze its beneficent energies." 

INTERIOR DEPARTMENT SHOULD BE 
REFORMED 

The San Francisco Call says: 

"Millions are now in its (the interior depart- 
ment's) possession to build irrigation works, 
and it has the power of withdrawal of desert 
lands in anticipation of covering them with 
water. Costly works are under way. Contract- 
ors have to be dealt with. The people who will 
finally take the irrigated lands expecting to re- 
turn to the government the cost of putting them 
under water are vitally concerned in the methods 
pursued and the expense incurred. These oper- 
ations of the government suspend private en- 
terprise. We have already seen the effect of 
this on the Colorado river. The interior depart= 
ment has filed on all of its water, destroying a 
large amount of private capital encouraged to 
irrigate the Colorado desert from that river by 
the assent of the war department, which has 
jurisdiction of meandered streams. If the Colo- 
rado is meandered as navigable, the government 
has no right to file on all its waters for irrigation. 
If it is non-navigable, the government has no 
right to file on it at all, for the non-navigable 
waters are under state and local control entirely. 
So, in the prosecution of government irrigation, 
the people find an added reason why the manners 
of officialdom should be mended, and its ways 
be made to conform to the private rights o 
honest men." 



Appeals to the President to Stop the Knocking---Im- 

perial Chamber of Commerce Takes Action on 

Attitude of the Reclamation Service 

and the Claims on Mexico 



The Imperial Daily Standard of November 22, 1906, under the above heading published the 
following: "The Imperial Chamber of Commerce has taken action on the continued opposition of 
the reclamation service to this valley, which has taken its last form in inciting trouble with Mex- 
ico b}' inducing damage claimants to file their claims against the Republic of Mexico. At a meet- 
ing of the directors of the chamber last evening the following personal appeal to President Roose- 
velt was adopted and ordered transmitted to him: 



Imperial, Cal., Nov. 20, 1906. 
Mr. Theodore Roosevelt, 

President of the United States, 
Washington, D. C. 

Dear Sir: The Imperial Chamber of Com- 
merce directs that the following facts be laid 
before you: 

Imperial valley is a section of the Colorado 
desert which has been reclaimed by the use of 
the water of the Colorado river. 

The first work on this irrigation system was 
done in 1900. Up to that time the section was 
the most forbidding desert in this country. 
Until long after the private corporation which 
owns the main canals began this work of recla- 
mation no competing work was contemplated 
by the government or by other interests. 

In good faith about ten thousand people 
have come into this valley to make their homes. 
In six years from this forbidding desert they have 
wrought out 125,000 acres of productive farm 
land, and they are proceeding further with work 
of reclamation. 

This is a law-abiding people and it has been 
believed by them that they were proceeding in 
accordance with the best ethics, the highest law 
and the most perfect polity in thus making 
homes for themselves on this waste land, now 
becoming a veritable garden. 



But from an early day this people has been 
beset by representatives of the government, who 
have lost no opportunity to throw obstacles in 
the way of advancement. 

The first serious offense to this vallej' was 
committed by the bureau of soils, which made 
a hasty survey of the valley and issued and widely 
circulated a report which pronounced a vast body 
of land worthless. That land is today producing 
from eight to twelve tons of alfalfa per acre a 
year and other crops in proportion. 

In this condemned valley, but six years from 
absolute desert, there are now 40,000 acres of 
alfalfa and 85,000 acres of grain and other crops. 
There are 20,000 head of beef cattle, 4,000 milch 
cows, 150,000 hogs and much other stock, while 
the annual production of commodities for ship= 
ment reaches $2,000,000. 

This valley had barely recovered from the 
serious set back the soil report gave it when the 
reclamation service began an agitation to take 
this section into the Laguna dam system, now 
under construction by the government. This 
proved futile, and it probably always will remain 
outside of the government works, because the 
topography of the country makes it necessary 
to bring the water through a strip of Mexican 
territory; and, further, because the construction 



APPEAL TO THE PRKrtlDENT BY THK lMPf:ni\L CHAMBl'R OF COMMERCK 



41 



of the irrigation system has proceeded so far that 
government aid is not needed. 

From the standpoint of the Laguna dam pro- 
ject, it apparently seems to the reclamation 
service essential that this valley be barred from 
getting prior claims to the water of the Colorado 
river, and hence the opposition. But we con- 
tend that justice is of greater importance than 
policy, and having first proceeded to use the 
water of that stream common justice demands 
that we be permitted to continue to do so, even 
if this should render the Laguna dam project of 
the government useless. 

This agitation for impossible government 
ownership again held back the development 
of the vallej', and before it had recovered the 
Coloi'ado river broke from its Ijed and flowed 
into the Sal ton sink, continuing to flow in that 
way for two years. 

During those two years the settlers in this 
valley had enough to contend with from natural 
forces, but added to these were the persistent at= 
tacks from members of the reclamation service, 
who maintained that this river could not be con- 
trolleil without government aid through Laguna 
dam. An illustration of this was Engineer 
Mendenhall's article in the North .\merican 
Review for August. The constant and per- 
nicious ''knocking" this valley received l>y the 
reclamation service continued on this line Ufj 
to the time the river was brought under control 
a few days .since — within three months after Mr. 
Mendenhall had declared the efforts to control 
it were not worthy of consideration. 

When the battle with the river was finally 
ended the people of Imperial valley were naturally 
jubilant. They felt that the time had come 
when they could proceed with the creditable 
work of building up the institutions of their 
country without interference. 

But once more they were dissappointed. 
Once more representatives of the reclamation 
service were on hand with a scheme for blocking 
the progress of this section. 

Along the channel the water had followed 
in flowing into Salton sink is the least developed 
portion of the valley, and there a number of 
land claimants had suffered damage by the flood 
water. 

These people had a natural recourse for dam- 
ages against the company which had cut the 
bank of the river, but they were persuaded to 
file their claims for damages against the Repub= 
lie of Mexico, instead of against the corporation. 



even though the corporation admitted that it 
alone is liable for damages. 

At least one engineer of the reclamation serv= 
ice is known to have taken a personal hand in 
inducing these people to file the claims against 
the Mexican republic, which from the first has 
shown a most friendly attitude toward this irri- 
gation enterprise, and those who have been most 
active in promoting this policy are men known 
to work intimately with the reclamation service. 

Among these claims which the state depart- 
ment has been asked to file against the sister 
republic are some in which the damages alleged 
wei-e actually sustained, but there are others in 
which holders of homestead claims, undeveloped 
and without water rights, are demanding thous- 
ands of dollars, though their homesteads do not 
represent an investment of $100 each. 

The result of this demand on the Republic of 
Mexico, an innocent party, is what was antici- 
pated by many persons and what we believe 
was the real design of the promoters of the idea, 
causing the Republic of Alexico to look with less 
friendly attitude on this irrigation project and 
threaten the revocation of privileges granted. 

The few advocates of demanding damages 
from Mexico have gone to the length of talking 
of the invasion of Mexico and the taking by the 
United States of Alexican territory. 

Such an attitude is naturally greatly to the 
detriment of this valley, and though apparently 
designed to once more l:)lock progress here, it 
has not yet been successful. 

As was said above, we are a lav>--abiding, pa- 
triotic people. We are ready and willing to fight 
natural forces until we conquer them, but it is 
humiliating in the last degress to feel that we are 
antagonized hy our own government at every 
turn we make in v.hat we believe to be laudable 
work. 

We recogni/.e in you, Mr. Tresident, a sturdy 
American who loves justice and fair play, and 
because we feel that you alone can call off those 
dejiartments of the government which'^^for five 
years have contested us at every stage of our 
work, we have decided to appeal to you directly 
and ask your personal assistance, firsth- in seeing 
that this antagonism to us by the government 
is ended, and secondly in seeing that no steps 
be taken in defiance of justice such as supporting 
these demands on Mexico designed to bring on 
this reclaimed section the ill will of our sister 
republic. 

H. L. PECK, President. 
Attest— H. N. DYKE, Secretary. 



Message on the Imperial Valley Situation Sent to Congress on Jan- 
uary 12, 1907, by President Roosevelt 



The Governor of the State of Cahfornia and 
individuals and communities in Southern Califor- 
nia have made urgent appeals to me to take steps 
to save the lands and settlements in the sink or 
depression known as the Imperial valley or Salton 
Sink region from threatened destruction from the 
overflow of the Colorado River. 

The situation appears so serious and urgent that 
I now refer the matter to Congress for its consider- 
ation, together with my reconmiendations upon 
the subject. 

Briefly stated, the conditions are these: 

The Imperial Valley, so called, in San Diego 
County, Cal., includes a large tract of country 
below sea level. Southeast of the valley and con- 
siderably above its level is the Colorado River, 
which flows on a broad slightly elevated plane, 
upon which the river pursues a tortuous course, 
finally entering the Gulf of California. The lands 
in the Imperial Valley are 300 feet or more below 
the level of the Colorado River. Down as far as 
the border they are protected from inundation by 
low-lying hills. South of the boundary in the re- 
public of Mexico, the hills cea.se abruptly and only 
the broad low nmd banks of the river protect the 
valley from being converted into an inland sea 
or lake. In order to get any water to this tract of 
fertile land, or on the other hand to protect it 
from too much water, works of supply or of protec- 
tion must be built in Mexico, even though they 
may lap the river in the United States. The 
United States can neither aid nor protect the in- 
terests of its citizens without going u])on foreign 
soil. 

Nature has through many centuries protected 
this great depression from overflows, but the rest- 
less river has annually threatened to break through 
the banks. Only a little human aid was needed to 



cause it to do so. This condition has been long 
known and through many years schemes have 
been discussed either to convert the Salton Sink 
area into a lake. or to irrigate the desert lands 
below sea level by making a cut in Mexico through 
the west bank of the Colorado. It was also well 
understood that if the cut in the bank was not 
carefully guarded the river would quickly get 
beyond control. Finally, after many trials, the 
California Development Companj' actively un- 
dertook the work. To insure the safety of the 
Imperial Valley, the head of the canal on the 
river was first placed on United States terri- 
tory, near where the river was bounded by hills. 
The canal then swung southwest and west away 
from the river through Mexican territory to con- 
nect with the natural depressions leading to the 
valley and back into the United States. The 
organizers of this company, in order to carry on 
the work in Mexico, acting under Mexican laws, 
caused to be created a subsidiary company. 

*The money thus obtained from settlers was not 
used in permanent development, but apparently 
disappeared, either in profits to the principal pro= 
meters or in the numerous subsidiary companies 
which to a certain extent fed upon the parent 
company or served to ob.scure its operations. The 
history of those deals is so complicated that it 
would require careful research extending through 
many months to unravel the various ways by 
which the money and the securities have dissap^ 
peared. In brief, it is sufficient to state that 
the valuable considerations which were received 
from water rights were obviously not used in 
providing necessary and permanent works for 
water to the settlers. Concessions were granted 
to this company by the Mexican government and 



•See George Chaffey's Letter I 



ident RooMvelt — page 26. 



I'KKSIDENT ROO.SICVKLT S MKSSAGK TO CONGRESS ON IMPERIAL 



43 



provision was made for the employment of a 
Mexican engineer to be appointed by the Mexican 
government to see that the project was properly 
carried out. The dangerous character of the at= 
tempt was thus recognized in this concession. 

*The California Development Company began 
its work by making representations to possible 
settlers of the great profits to be derived by them 
by the taking up of this land. tThe claims were 
not only extravagant, but in many cases it ap= 
pears that willful misrepresentations were made. 
Many of the operations of this company tended 
to mislead uninformed settlers. At first the success 
of the company was great and it disposed of water 
rights at prices sufficiently large to obtain fair 
revenue, either in cash or in securities of value. 

*The whole enterprise and the spirit of those 
promoting it as well as of the numerous smaller 
speculators attracted to the subsidiary offer were 
of the most visionary character. Actual invest= 
ments have been small compared to the estimates 
of wealth which seemed possible of realization. 
The company entered upon its construction work 
with large plans, but with inadequate capital. 
All of its construction for the control and distri= 
bution of water were temporary in character, 
being built of wood and of the smallest possible 
dimensions. Through the efforts thus made a 
large amount of land was brought under culti= 
vation and at one time it was reported that 
100,000 acres were more or less irrigated. 

*The first heading of the canal of the Cahfornia 
Development Company was made in the United 
States immediately north of the Mexican border. 
It was found after a time that the heading on the 
American side of the line did not give a grade to 
furnish sufficient flowof water and after the heading 
had been opened at other points without success- 
ful results, a cut in the river bank was made four 
miles farther down in Mexican territory. This 
gave the water a shorter and separate course to- 
ward the valley. The making of this cut in a 
bank composed of light soil above a depression 
such as this without controlling devices, was 
criminal negligence. This short cut on Mexican 
soil was made in the fall of 1904. It was gradually 
eroded by the passage of the water, and in the 
spring of 1905 the floods of the Colorado River 
entering the artificial cut rapidly widened and 
deepened until the entire flow of the river was 
turned west, down the relatively steep slope into 
the Imperial Valley, and thence into what is 
known as the Salton Sink, or Salton Sea. 

*See George Chaffey's Letter to President Roosevelt — page 26. 
tSee L. M. Holt's letter to President Roosevelt — page 16. 



After the mischief became apparent strenuous 
efforts were made by the California Development 
Conipanj' to close the break, but without success. 
Finally, the Southern Pacific, finding its tracks 
imperiled and traffic seriously interfered with, 
advanced money to the California Development 
Company, receiving as security a majority of its 
.shares of the company, and thus tnolv charge of 
the situation. 

By means of the facilities available to the 
Southern Pacific, the break in the west bank of the 
Colorado River was closed on November 4, 1906. 
A month later, however, a sudden rise in the river 
undermined the poorly constructed levees im- 
mediately south of the former break, and the 
water again resumed its course into the Salton Sea. 

The results have been highly alarming, as it 
aj)])ears that if the waters are not checked they 
will cut a very deep channel, which progressing 
upstream, will result in conditions such that the 
water can not be reverted by gravity into the 
canals that are built along the Imperial Valley. 
If the break is not closed before the coming 
spring Hood of 1907. it appears highly probable 
that all of the property^values created in this val- 
ley will be wiped out, including' farms and towns. 
Ultimately the channel will be deepened in the 
main stream itself up to and beyond the town of 
Yuma, destroying the homes and farms there, 
the great railroad bridge, and the government 
works at Laguna dam. 

It is impossible to estimate how many people 
have settled in this valley, the figures varying 
from six thousand to ten thousand. It is also 
difficult to ascertain how much money has ac= 
tually been expended in real improvements. 
Town lots have been laid off, sold at auction, and 
several hundred buildings erected in the various 
small settlements scattered throughout the tract. 
Some crops have been raised and under favorable 
conditions the output in the near future will be 
large. 

The actual amount of tangible wealth or securi= 
ties possessed by these settlers today upon which 
money can be raised is believed to be very small. 
Nearly all individual property has been expended 
in securing water rights from the California 
Development Company. It is evident that the 
people have slender resources to fall back upon, 
and in view of that, are practically helpless. 
The California Development Company is also un= 
able to meet the exigency. 

The complications which have arisen from the 
transfer of the property and the involved relations 



44 



UNFKIENDLY ATTITUDE OK (iOVKKNMKNT TOWARD.s IMPERIAL 



of the California Development ('om|)any, with 
its numerous subsidiary companies, are such that 
the United States would not be justified in having 
any dealings with this company until the compli- 
cations are removed, and the government has a 
full understanding of every phase of the situation. 

It has been stated that the California Develop- 
ment Company has not the financial strength 
to repair the break and to restore the bank of 
the Colorado river to such permanent condition 
that a similar occurrence cannot happen. It is 
further understood that the Southern I'acific 
Railway Company, having e.xpended $2,000,000 or 
more for the protection of its interests, declines 
to furnish more money to the California Develop- 
ment Company to save the Imperial Valley l)e- 
yond controlling the present break in the river 
bank. The ownership of the property in Imperial 
Valley, both farmers and towns-people, together 
with the Southern Pacific company, and the Cali- 
fornia Development have combined to call upon 
the government to assist the California Develop- 
ment Company to the extent of erecting perma- 
nent works to insure protection in the future. 

If the river is not put back and permanently 
maintained in its natural bed the progressive 
backcutting in the course of a year or two will 
extend upstream to Yuma, and finally to the La= 
guna dam, now being built by the government, 
thus wiping out millions of dollars of property 
belonging to the government and to the citizens. 
Continuing further, it will deprive all of the valley 
lands along the Colorado River of the possibility 
of obtaining a new supply of water by gravity 
canals. 

The great Yuma bridge will go out, and approxi= 
mately 700,000 acres of land as fertile as the Nile 
Valley will be left in a desert condition. What this 
means may be understood when we remember 
the entire producing area of Southern California 
is about 250,000 acres. *A most conservative 
estimate for full development must place the 
gross product from this land at not less than $100 
per acre. If the break in the Colorado is not per= 
manently controlled the financial loss to the United 
States will be great. The entire irrigable area 
which will be submerged or deprived of water in 
the Imperial Valley and along the Colorado River 
is capable of adding to the permanent population 
of Arizona and California at least 350,000 people 
and probably 500,000. Much of the land will be 
worth from $500 to $1,500 an acre, or a total from 
$350,000,000 to $700,000,000. 

*Se€ L. M. Holt's letter to IVeyiilent Koosevelt— pases 15 &ud It). 



The i)oint to be especially emphasized is that 
prompt action must be taken, otherwise the situa- 
tion may be so extreme as to be impracticable 
of remedy. The history of the past attempts to 
close the break in the river has shown that each 
time, through delay, the work has cost double or 
treble what it would have cost had prompt action 
been taken. It is probable now that with an ex- 
penditure of $2,000,000 the river can be restored 
to its former channel and held there indefinitely, 
but if this action is not taken immediately, 
several times this sum will be required to restore 
it, and possibly it cannot be restored unless 
enormous sums are expended. 

At the present moment there appears to be 
only one agency equal to the task of controlling 
the river, namely, the Southern Pacific Company, 
with its transportation facilities, its equipment 
and control of the California Development Com= 
pany and subsidiary companies. The need of 
railroad facilities and equipment and the inter= 
national complications are such that the officers 
of the United States, even with unlimited funds 
could not carry on the work with the celerity re= 
quired. It is only the fact that the officers of the 
Southern Pacific, acting also as officers of the 
California Development Company, have been 
able to apply all its resources for the transporta= 
tion, motive power and the operation of the road 
that has made it possible to cope with the situa= 
tion to the extent that has already been accomp= 
lished. The Southern Pacific Company is now 
reported to be working strenuously to fill the 
break through which the Colorado River is flow- 
ing westward to the Salton Sea, and is repairing 
levees to keep out the high water due next March. 
Further construction is necessary, and all neces- 
sary temporar}' work must be replaced b\' per- 
manent structures. It is estimated that for this 
additional work $2,000,000 should be available. 
The question as to what sum, if any, should be 
paid to the Southern Pacific for work done since 
November 4, 1906, is one for future consideration; 
for work done prior to that date no claim can be 
admitted. 

But one practicable course is now open for con- 
sideration. The Southern Pacific Company must 
continue its work to close the break and restore 
the river to its proper channel. The United States 
can then take charge making the protective 
works permanent and providing for their main= 
tenance. 

It is not believed that a free gift of this money 
should be made, as by its investment the stability 
of property of great value will be secured and the 



PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT S MESSAGE TO CONGRESS OX IMPERIAL 



45 



increase in land values throughout the Imperial 
Valley will be sufficient to justify the provisions 
that this money should be returned to the govern= 
ment. 

The reclamation service should be authorized 
to take steps at once for the construction of an 
irrigation project under the terms of the Reclama= 
tion Act for the lands in the Imperial Valley, and 
in the lower Colorado River Valley. The service 
should be in position to proceed actively with the 
organization of the project and the construction 
of works as soon as the condition in regard to 
the protection of the valley against overflow will 
justify expenditures for this purpose. 

To accomplish this, the United States shouhl 
acquire the rights of the California Development 
Company and its subsidiary corporations in the 
United .States and Mexico upon such reasonable 
terms as shall protect the interests of the govern- 
ment and of water users. The United States 
should obtain by convention with Mexico the 
right to carr}' water through that country upon 
reasonable conditions. 

Most of the land in the Imperial Valley has been 
entered under the terms of the Desert Land Act 
of the, homestead laws, and title has not passed 
out of the United States. 

The construction work required would be: 
The main canal, some sixty miles in length from 
Laguna dam into the Imperial Valley; the repair 
and partial construction of the present distribu- 
tion system in the valley, and its extension to 
other lands, mainly diversion dams and distribu- 
tion systems in the Colorado River Valley, and 
the provision for supplementing the natural flow 
of the river by means of storage reservoirs as may 
be necessary. This would provide for the com- 
plete irrigation of 400,000 acres in the Imperial 
Valley and for 400,000 acres additional in the 
United States in the valley of the Colorado in 
Arizona and California. 

The reclamation fund now available has been 
allotted for projects under construction, and the 
anticipated additions to the fund for the next few 
years will be needed to complete these projects. 



It will therefore be impossible to construct the 
reclamation project in the Imperial Valley* with 
the funds now in hand, and it will be necessary 
for Congress to make specific appropriation for 
this work if it so desires to undertake it. 

Such appropriation will be so expended for a 
project carried out under all the provisions of the 
Reclamation Act, requiring the return to the recla- 
mation fund of the cost of the construction and 
maintenance of the irrigation works, and there 
should be the further requirement that the cost 
of the protective works and their maintenance be 
repaid. 

The interests of the government in this matter 
are so great in the protection of its own property 
particularly of the public lands, that Congress is 
justified in taking prompt and effective measures 
toward the relief of the present situation. No 
steps, however, should be taken except with a 
broad comprehension of the magnitude of the 
work and with the belief that within the next ten 
years the work and development will be carried 
out to their full proportions. 

The plan in general is to enter upon a broad, 
comprehensive scheme of development for all the 
irrigable lands upon the Colorado River, with 
needed storage at the headquarters, so that none 
of the water of this great river which can be put 
to beneficial use will be allowed to waste. The 
Imperial Valley will never have a safe and ade- 
quate supply of water until the main canal ex- 
tends from the Laguna dam. As each end of this 
dam is connected with rock bluffs it provides a 
permanent heading founded on rock for the di- 
version of the waters. Any works built below 
this point would not be safe from destruction by 
floods and cannot be depended upon for a per- 
manent and reliable supply of water to the valley. 
If Congress does not give authority and make 
adequate provision to take up this work in the 
way suggested, it must be inferred that it acquies= 
ces in the abandonment of the work at Laguna, 
and of all future attempts to utilize the valuable 
public domain in this part of the country. 

Theodore Roosevelt. 



013 702 719 7 



